Spring Edition 2010
The Phoenix News
Pocket Money: Analyzing Student Allowance
By Lucy
Money is important. We all
know that. But what exactly is it
about money that makes us need
more and more of it? Why do we
need money to buy things that we
could easily make for ourselves or
borrow from a friend?
With so much talk about the
economy, people have begun put-
ting a little more thought into how
much they spend and on what. It
may even affect how much money
you receive from your parents for
allowance, or chores, or even how
much you earn in your job. We
decided to take a closer look at
what money means to the kids in
our school, where they get it, and
what they use it for.
The first thing we wanted to
know was whether or not students
got allowance. In the 6th grade,
59% of students do receive allow-
ance, while 41% do not. In the 7th
W h a t ’ s
School News/Culture
What’s in the Salad Dress-
ing? Local Herbs!(2)
Students Want Change (2)
Making Movies (4)
Brendan’s Scarf (5)
Day in the life of a NEST
student (5)
1 The Phoenix News Tompkins Square Middle School Student Newsmagazine
Tompkins Square Middle School Student Newsmagazine
grade, 57% of students receive
allowance and 43% don’t. And in
the 8th grade, 63% of kids get al-
lowance while 37% don’t. Some-
thing we noticed right away was
the obvious difference between the
grades. The percentage difference
between the 6th and 7th grade was
small, but surprisingly, 6th graders
were more likely to get allowance
than 7th graders. And when you got
to 8th grade there was a clear bump
in the data. For whatever reason, 8th Grader Jarret Jung competes at the Track Meet in the East River Park, April 29th.
8th graders are 4% more likely to
get allowance than 6th graders, and
6% more likely to receive allowance
Track Team Exudes Healthy Attitude
than 7th graders. By Nilsamarie Rodriguez
Then we asked people just how On Thursday April 13, lots of first, second and third places.
much money did they consider their students fromTSMS participated “All the hard practice was really
allowance. In the 6th grade, for the in their second district one track worth it. Our relay really came
59% of students who this even ap- meet. They ran against NEST, through, ” said Nya Richards, the
plies to, the average was $7.60 per TASS, and I.S. 188. After lots of second runner for the 7th grade
week. In the 7th grade it was $10.86 hard practice each week, the team girls relay.
per week. And in the 8th grade, it performed excellently. They won Many new 6th graders have
Continued On Page 3 Continued On Page 8
I n s i d e W h a t ’ s I n s i d e
New Teacher Profile:
Rebecca (6)
Book Review, Page 9 Travel, P.10
Spiderwick Chronicles Switzerland and France
Animal Adoption (7)
Sports, Page 8 VideoGameReview, P.9 After-School, Food,
WOW: #1 Game for Game
Skateboarding: the Physical
Art (8)
for Gamers, Worldwide Music Review, P.11
Movie Review,P.10 Crossword onthe Back!
 The Phoenix News is a
student publication for the
Tompkins Square Middle
School community, organized
as a part of the afterschool
program. We thank all the
supportive teachers for mak-
ing our school the creative
happening place that it is, dur-
ing, and afterschool. Moreover
we thank you as readers and
welcome your comments and
criticisms at:
TSMSPhoenix@gmail.com
All TSMS students are
invited to propose articles and
photographs. Get involved!
Phoenix News Staff:
Editor: Lucy
LooseEnds: Jasper Tomah-Yih
Staff Writers:
Elise Ruiz, Nilsamarie
Rodriguez, Jordan Blacks-
hear, Tasmin Ersahin, , Keno
Burckhardt, Leila Eliot,
Marquise Mack, Emma
Louise Fountain, Desi
Tomaselli, Alex Greenblatt,
Aiden Engel-Bradley, Darby
Houghton
Adviser, Layout:
Ethan Goldwater
*All Photos by Ethan Goldwater
except Keno’s shot of Hercules.
Above: Max Stalker-Wilde eating cook-
ies that he bought from our bake sale to
Max Stalker-Wilde eats the cookie he
bought for the benefit for Haiti bakesale.
The Phoenix News Tompkins Square Middle School Student Newsmagazine 2
School Grown Herbs in the Salad Dressing
By Desi Tomaselli
On January 16, 2010 in the cafeteria, TSMS, Earth “I planted rose marry, thyme, lavander, sage, mints,
School, and PS64 students were all munching on stevia and parsly,” she said. “The kids loved it because
salad dressed with dressing made out of herbs grown it was so good, and they ran out of salad.”
just outside the building’s walls. Abbe explained how things we can plant in our
Abbe Futterman, the science teacher at the Earth school garden can be really healthy for us. “Herbs help
School, planted the herbs outside of the school at the humans. Herbs have vitimans and micro-nutrients and
beginning of last summer. they taste and smell good.”
“I love cooking.,” said Abbe. “The herbs add good
smell and good color to the salad dressing. A little can
go a long way. You can plant a little and there will be
enough for the whole school.”
Abbe thought she should tell the whole school
because “what ever food comes in from the garden is
for the whole building.”
We Want Change By Tasmin Ersahin.
We asked the question “What #2 Less Homework
do you want to change about “I think we should get less
T.S.M.S.?” to the kids of our homework. We need more time
school. Approximately 300 kids to be kids!” People in our school
responded. Here are their ideas in have made it clear that they want
order of most voted. These votes less homework. Some suggestions them if there are no garbage
were anonymous and the informa- are: no homework on weekends, cans in the stalls?” “ There
tion used to make this article is no homework on breaks and are about 375 kids in the
strictly from what the kids wrote. vacations, and homework should school, there is one bathroom
#1 School Lunch not take more than 2 hours to with 4 working stalls for all
What kids said they would like complete. One kid suggested that the girls (there are 2 stalls al-
to change the most in the school we have one extra hour in school ways out of order.)” are some
is the school lunch. People say everyday and have no homework. of the complaints that were
that the school lunch should be Hey teachers, wondering why voiced about the state of our
healthier, tastier, include more kids are always tired in school? school’s bathrooms.
food choices, more vegetarian Well, this kid has the answer, “I Other suggestions from the
options, more international foods would change homework in the
school. The amount of homework voters were:
(to meet the diversity of the kids -Learn about green living in school
in the school), organic food and is overwhelming. Homework is
the reason why kids go to sleep -Choice between dance and gym
fresh local food. -Different clubs (baseball, football,
“I feel like I eat greasy crap late and don’t get enough sleep.”
etc.)
for lunch in school”. “Sometimes #3 Cleaner Bathrooms -More school trips
I don’t even eat lunch, I just go “We definitely need to -Spirit Week
hungry.” “It seriously sucks having have cleaner bathrooms. I -More Enrichment Choices (mu-
to eat P.B.& J sandwiches ev- mean, literally, you can smell sic, theatre, other languages, etc)
eryday for lunch. We need more the boy’s bathroom from a
vegetarian options.” “Could we mile away.” “ The girl’s bath- Leila Elliot contributed to the
have organic, fresh and local food room is gross. You need to
research for this article.
for lunch? Or is that an impossible dodge the dirty pads littered
dream?” on the floor. But also, what
do you expect us to do with
 Pocket Money: Analyzing Student Allowance (continued)
was $22.28. The 8th graders get almost double
the amount that the 7th graders get per week,
and three times that of the 6th graders. But why
do they need this much money? And what do
they use it for?
The things that most people said they spent
their money on were food, clothes, electronics,
and video games. “Bronxville tickets in Grand
Central Station, nail polish, clothes, and food,”
an 8th grader said. And, “I usually go to Exit 9
or Alphabets or Urban Outfitters to buy cool
things like earmuff headphones etc…” respond-
ed one 6th grader.”
One 8th grader said, “Food, pizza, delis,
Chinese food.” And a lot of people said they
had to spend money on lunch. “Out to lunch
money every Mon, Wed, and Fri,” another 8th
grader responded. And, “I spend my money on
lunch at the pizza place.” “FOOD!! Anywhere,”
said one student.
As far as clothes go, they were very popular
among all the grades. A lot of people said they
What percentage of TSMS students get allowance?
spend their money on sneakers, or clothes
that would “make them look good,” as a 6th
6th Grade 7th Grade 8th Grade
grader said. Some popular neighborhood stores
were Exit 9, Alphabets, Urban Outfitters, and
Forever 21. So, I guess people just care enough
about these things to want to spend whatever
money they get on them, whether they earn it or
not. And how many people do earn it?
Well, 38% of 6th graders do chores, 44%
of 7th graders, and only 11% of 8th graders.
Now that’s not including anyone who has a job
or who just maybe doesn’t consider some of
the stuff they do to help out around the house
as ‘chores’. “No I don’t really have chores just they spent their money on was important thing they want” sometimes, as a 6th
dishes and take down the garbage,” one 7th they responded, “Yes, cause I need the grader responded. Or, as one 7th grade
grader answered. “It depends (whether or not I food to move around.” student answered, “Yes, (I need more
get allowance), I do chores just to do it, not for Some people said they wanted more money), for a better future.”
money,” an 8th grader said. And one 7th grader money, but most said that they didn’t. As we all know, and whether we like
responded that, “Every once in a while I get al- “No, (I don’t want more money) because it or not, money is important and will
lowance from my dad but I mostly have to clean my mom has to pay bills and I don’t need always be, in and out of the school. What
the dishes or the whole kitchen.” money because I don’t pay bills,” a 6th we spend our money on does matter,
Next, we wanted to find out how seriously grader said. But an 8th grader answered, at least to some extent, and if not to
people thought about what they spent their “Yes, because I run out really fast.” There ourselves, than to somebody else, it does
money on, and how important they thought it were a lot of answers about not wanting make a difference. It affects us everyday
was. One 6th grader said, “No, (what I spend or needing more money because their and forces us to make decisions about
my money on is not important) well to me it is parents needed it more than they did, to what to save and what to spend, what to
but maybe not for everyone else.” Were they pay bills, or to support the household. spend it on, what to not spend it on. So
right? Some people said they did care about “No! Why would I?,” a 6th grader said. money really does matter in our lives, in
what they spent money on but some people said “Parents have to pay bills and they should some way or another, and whether we get
they didn’t. “Well, yes I spend on food so I can have the money. They are adults.” a lot or a little, or any at all, we should
survive and live. I buy clothes so I can protect But some people said they needed always try to spend wisely and earn at
my body when it’s hot or cold,” one 6th grader more just because they can’t “get every- least some of the money we receive.
said. When one 8th grader was asked if what

3 The Phoenix News Tompkins Square Middle School Student Newsmagazine

The Art of Moviemaking: An Exploration in 6th Grade Humanities Class
By Emma Louise Fountain

Student Teacher Josh working with Edwin Merlin. Rintaro framing the shot. Emma Fountain slapping Joshua Footman across the screen.

On Friday, April 9, 2010, 6th grade
teams Balance and Diversity celebrated
the completion of their movies. Sure, they
weren’t 2 hour-long high tech special effect
films, but considering that most of us hadn’t
had any film training (other then Josh, our
movie-making student teacher), I thought
they were pretty good.
First of all, we wrote small moment short
stories, lots of dialogue, not a lot of detail.
This took us 2 days. Next, we started to
storyboard. We drew pictures to illustrate
juxtaposition (cutting back and forth), camera
angle, camera movement, and point of view.
We described what the shot would show, the
settings, and inner dialogue. That took 2-3
days.
Then, after making multiple storyboards,
we wrote the scripts. We described every mo-
ment in our ‘skits’, deciding where the camera
would be and when. We drew more pictures,
and we wrote out exact lines for our actors to
say in the actual movie. We wrote out inner
dialogue. We wrote pretty much everything
that goes into a homemade movie.
The next step was to write a general
overview of our movies. We wrote the title
and the plot. Then, we wrote out who was
who. You could be directing (responsible for
overseeing all creative aspects of the set),
camera operating (operates the camera, type
of shot, angle of shot. Works closely with
director), production assisting (Responsible
for props, objects, and overall look of shot),
sound design (Responsible for title slate
visual/clap at start of shot and controlling
outside noises), or acting (the characters in a
movie).
Finally, the last step was to film the
movie. Ms. Cibener, the 6th grade humani-
ties teacher, said this was her favorite part-
“Watching the kids use all the different film
techniques”. Most groups took 10 takes
of each shot, some less. The whole class
trooped out to Tompkins Square Park and
shot the movies there. We would clear whole
areas, making them just right for our movies.
The next day, we watched all our movies,
laughing over the cheesy jokes, cringing at the
fake fights, and pretty much everyone agreed-
we could do that again…

Meet Rebecca: 8th Grade Humanities Teacher

by Jordan Blackshear
What is Rebecca’s favorite
type of music? Rock & Roll.
Who is Rebecca’s favorite band?
The Who. They played the half
time slot at this year’s Super
Bowl. Meet Rebecca! She’s the
8th Grade Humanities Teacher
from TSMS and works in Room
340. Rebecca is a new teacher at
TSMS and she used to work at
PS 126 in Lower Manhattan.
She was convinced to transfer
to TSMS by word of mouth from
two teachers who said that the
school was a really open-minded
community and fun place to work,
Ms. Mashamesh, a 7th Grade
Humanities teacher who got a job
here told her that it was a really
great school and that there were
spots still available. Also she
knew Mr. Vazquez, a 6th Grade
Humanities teacher who told her
that she would like it here.
The reason why she became
an 8th Grade Humanities
teacher was because she likes
the challenge of working with
middle-schoolers and she knows
a lot about English and Social
Studies. She likes to work with 8th
graders because she likes to get
them ready for high school. Also
to prepare them for the work they
will have so they know some of the
stuff they are to expect.
What she likes most about the
8th grade curriculum is the Social
Studies part of Humanities, espe-
cially World War II, Civil Rights,
and the Holocaust. Humanities
has a lot to do with life because
everyday people make history. Re-
becca also enjoys the writing part
of it too. She likes being able to
say what she thinks and she also
likes to tell stories.
What Rebecca likes about
NYC is that there is always
something to do here... When
she’s not at TSMS, Rebecca
spends time hiking, being with
friends, and enjoys free writing
as well. The best vacation she
has ever taken was to Barce-
lona, Spain in college. She was
in NYU at the time, where
she was studying religion and
English.
“It’s fantastic to work with
her, she’s really smart and she
comes up with fun things to do
with the class and she also has
a great sense of humor”, says
Mary the 8th Grade Humani-
ties teacher that works with her.

The Phoenix News Tompkins Square Middle School Student Newsmagazine 4

 Permanent Accessory: Brendan’s Scarf
“It’s cool? Mmmmm... sure.”
-Jasper
By Lucy
“Energetic, stupid, and agile.” Those are
three words Brendan Ko uses to describe
himself. But others disagreed. 7th grade student
Jasper Toman-Yih said that the three words he
thought best described Brendan were “Scarf,
hair, and Brendan.” The reason he chose the
word scarf was because Brendan always wears a
blue scarf to school.
According to Brendan, his mom made it
for him. “She knit it with my sister and I find
that really special in a way,” he says. He likes it
because, “It gives me more character and it feels
really comfortable on me. It makes my neck re-
ally warm, which I like and it feels really natural
on me now.” He wears it a lot, so apparently, “It
feels like skin. It feels really weird when I take
it off.”
He’s had his scarf for a long time and he wears
it a lot, so he’s shared a lot of interesting mo-
ments with his scarf. His happiest moments with
it were, “Whenever I run with it I guess. I feel
like a special man. I feel almost as cool as Jasper
does.” But his worst moment with the scarf
was when, “I almost lost it. I went outside and
it was like zero degrees out and I lost my scarf
and my hat and my gloves and my jacket and it
really cold out so I had to run back inside the
school.” His funniest moment wearing the scarf
was when, “Zalmai tied my shoe to the window
string and I was kicking so the shade kept going
up and down and we were going to be late for
class because I couldn’t leave and then he took
scissors and cut the string.”
I asked him if he ever got hot wearing the
scarf and this was his response: “Yeah, if I took
it off right now, I would feel a difference in tem-
perature around my neck, so you know yeah.”
Brendan says the most important lesson he has
learned from his experience wearing the scarf
was that, “You shouldn’t be self conscious about
what you want to do, like if it feels comfortable
it feels comfortable, but some of the things that
feel comfortable you shouldn’t do.” Wow, that’s
so deep.
So, then I wanted to find out what other
people thought about his scarf...
(This article was written in February. Brendan has
since stopped wearing the scarf. Of course, Brendan’s
personality is still the same. And Jasper still accepts
the scarf’s coolness.)

A Day in the Life of A Student at the N.E.S.T. School By Lucy and Jordan

At 6:30 a.m., Shay Ghallager
wakes up in her Queens home. She
gets dressed, making sure to put
on one of her few different-colored
Nest shirts, (regular polo shirts with
the Nest logo on it), and drives to
school. Nest
is an elemen-
tary through
highschool
situated on
Houston
street and
Avenue D,
right next to Hamilton Fish library.
It’s big blue tiled building is where
many neighborhood kids attend
school, and where many local
teachers go to teach. It is known for
its strict attitude and disciplinary
ideas, but also for its high test scores
and high achieving students.
Shay arrives at school by 8:10
each morning, just making the
8:15 cutoff between the early and
the late. Her first period class is
the same each day. Social stud-
ies taught by her favorite teacher,
Dominic. Dom for short. “I like
Dom because he is really funny,
witty, and bold,” she says. After that
she has her second period class,
also the same each day. For the
most part her schedule stays rela-
tively the same, besides 3rd and 7th
period, in which she has an alternat-
ing elective. Their day contains 8
periods, which causes some hectic
and perhaps even stressful times.
They have 4 minutes between
periods to get to each class, and
according to Shay, “There are a lot
of stairs, which are very steep.”
Their extra classes, or electives,
are gym, web design, a language
(French, Mandarin, or Spanish,
Shay takes French), Team Leader-
ship, and music. When asked what
Team Leadership consists of, Shay
replied after thinking for a while, “A
class where we learn how to coop-
erate and just play sports or sit out
because we don’t have the proper
shoes. And we also have assign-
ments like essays on sports movies.”
Once a week her class goes to the
science lab where they get to con-
duct an experiment. As for who she
has classes with, the people stay the
same until gym where two classes
combine.
In our school, for the most part
we have a strict no phone rule. If a
phone goes off, we usually have to
get our parents to come and retrieve
it. “We have to act like it isn’t our
phone,” Shay said “But normally,
they take it.”
For lunch, the NEST kids get
the choice of sitting in a booth, at a
table, or if there’s no room they have
to sit on the
radiators. The
school lunch
isn’t good, but
still, less people
take lunch from
home than
eat the school
lunch.
Shay’s school day ends at
3:10pm. “I normally do stuff after
school, and I get home at certain
times depending on what I did
after school that day.” Such as going
to her friends houses, going to the
library next door, or going to have
pizza with friends. Our schools
appear to be very different, but once
you get past the uniforms and strict
no sneakers/jeans policy, they’re
actually quite similar. Just ask Shay.

5 The Phoenix News Tompkins Square Middle School Student Newsmagazine

 It’s Back... School Store Re-Opens!
By Marquise Mack and Jordan Blackshear
Guess what’s back? No it’s not your boo-
merang. It’s the school store. You can still get the
all the same things and also most of the prices
haven’t changed. There aren’t any new items
what so ever. You can still buy stuff like water or
granola bars, but the sweater prices have gone
up. It used to be $22.50 but now its $26 because
of the manufacturer raised the prices. The
people who run the school store are Ms. Curry
and Rebecca. But sometimes it’s hard to get the
staff (kids) to work.
The school store is a little store by the tech
room and Bryce’s room if you want to visi. We
recomend you do. We asked the person who
runs the school store and asked
they think about working at the
school store. “I think it’s cool to
run the school store,” said Ms.
Curry, the 6th Grade Team
Strength teacher.
If you are wondering what
the school store’s money goes
you should pay attention. Part
the money goes to buying new
things, and the other part goes Rebecca (left) and Ms. Curry counting school store money.
to the school. “It’s awesome to work at the school “You can buy lots of things Joshua,” a 6th Grader
store”, quoted Lucas, a 6th Grader in Team in Team Strength.
Insight.

Wheeling A Mobile Contraption Around Downtown

By Ethan Cyr
One day me and my friend Caleb were event was happening. We rode the chair there, but
at Block Busters getting two liter bottles when we arrived we realized that we had no way to
of Coca Cola because they were only keep it from being stolen. Luckily Mr. Goldwater
$1.50. Then my friend Max called me and was there with his bike and agreed to lock it up for us,
told us that there was a swivel chair (A so we were able to go in and see Ned Vizzini speak.
chair with wheels) at Saint Marks and 1st That was cool.
avenue. Caleb and I ran there and took
the chair and I rode on it because my leg
hurt. Then we walked around and found
parts to add to it. The next day we went
to Atticus Jones’ dad’s workshop and his
dad was like “I’m a cool guy! I’ll build
this for you!” When we were done with
the chair me and Caleb were like “Oh
no! We’re going to be late for the talent
show!” and we rushed with me riding the
chair to the school. After we got there and
heard Max play guitar we rode around in
the hallways.
Ned Vizzini getting the crowd pumped at Barnes and Noble.
Next week, on March 25, the book
fair at Barnes & Nobles with Ned Vizzini

A Trip Through History: 8th Grade’s Visit to Museum of Jewish Heritage

By Bryn Huxley-Reicher
On Friday January 29th, the eigth grade
went on a trip to the Museum of Jewish
Heritage: a living memorial to the Holocaust,
located in Battery Park City. We visited the
museum to deepen our understanding of the
Holocaust, Judaism in general, and oppres-
sion and genocide in the world. Once there,
we toured the three floors, the first for Jewish
heritage, the second about the Holocaust and
the third about oppresion and genocide in the
world. After touring the exhibits, we heard a
man speak about his experiences as a survivor
of the Holocaust.
The Museum’s exhibits include photo-
graphs and artifacts from the history of Judaism
and the Holocaust, as well as the permanent
sculpture installation of Andy Goldsworthy; a
space in which trees are planted into holes in
rocks. One who views this piece is reminded of
the hope, and perseverance of humanity.
In my opinion, the 8th grade was not able to
stay in the exhibits long enough or see enough
exhibits to get a very thorough understanding
of the museum’s treature trove of historical in-
formation. Amos Resheff, an 8th grader, stated:
“I thought the trip was really cool. I thought
that it was great for the class to get an in-depth
view of the Holocaust and of Judaism. The one
thing that I did not like about the museum was
that there was a gift shop. The museum should
not be trying to profit from teaching people
about the Holocaust.”
All in all, I think that this trip was very
educational. I think it would be worth a return
visit that lasts the entire day, to really absorb all
that this amazing museum has to offer.

The Phoenix News Tompkins Square Middle School Student Newsmagazine 6

 Animal Adoption: Pet stores, Shelters or Breeders?
“I saw her picture and eyes and that
was every thing.” These were the words
Ms. Mashamesh, the 7th grade Humanities
teacher, told me when she was telling me
about her experience in getting a dog. She
had recently lost her dog and she thought
that it was time to get a new one. What she
did was go to petfinder.com. That was where
she found a dog named, Gigi, a year old
female dog. Ms. M fell in love with Gigi
when she saw the picture.
So Ms. M decided to go and see her.
“She is sweet and crazy, like a teenager.”
So that was when Gigi got her new name,
Ruby. Now she has a new and loving
home with Ms. M, a loving, caring pet
owner.
There are more animals out in the
world that are looking for chances at life
again or to begin a new one like Ruby.
That seems like an easy job, to just get
an animal and keep it. But that is not how
it works. For example, is where you live
effective for the animal, are you going
to have time to provide the animal with
enough love and attention that it needs
and much more?
But, lets think ahead to when you
think you are ready and prepared to get an
animal. You will have a few questions in
your head as to where to get a pet from. I
mean there are a lot of choices to where
to get your pet from. You have pet stores,
shelters and breeders all around the world.
But, which is the best place to get a pet?
Lets find out.
Lets start off with a pet store. Of course
we see many cute pets in the pet store and
we always have the urge to buy a pet. But, is
it the best option? Well if you go to the pet
store and ask for the pets’ information then
the
infor-
7 The Phoenix News Tompkins Square Middle School Student Newsmagazine
By Elise Ruiz
mation that they give you might be inaccu-
rate or completely wrong. Also the medical
treatment that the pet stores give to the pets
could be the minimal amount that the state
requires. That wouldn’t be such a healthy
dog now, would it? Finding the right pet
from a pet store would be such a pain since
there are many pet stores in the world! But,
even though they could be some complicated
things about buying a pet from the pet store,
there are good pet stores that are reliable and
trustworthy. Just be careful where you go!
Next is the shelter. Yes, of course we all
feel sorry for the animals that are in the shelter
since they are put to sleep after a certain
amount of time. Yes again, you could
be a hero and save a life. That is a
proud and big thing to do. But, if the
animals are there because the past
owners
thought
that the animals had behavior problems,
then consider them! So I suggest you choose
wisely!
An animal breeder is not a choice that
many people consider to get an animal from.
But, there are some things that are good about
getting them from a breeder. Be prepared- a
lot of good breeders ask a bunch of questions
(which can get vey tiring, believe me!)
and will try to see if you are a good match
for the pet. (Even though it can be very
annoying.) You do not want a breeder
who would just give up the animal to just
anyone.
That would probably mean that
they would not take such good care of
the pets. The worst part about getting
an animal from a breeder would be that
the breeders might tend to lie a lot more
about the information about the animal
that you are planning to get. Ask the
breeder how long have they been work-
ing with the breed. Have they just started
or had they had experience before? How
much information does the breeder know
about the breed? What does the breeder
do for a living? But, the most important
question is, do you like the breeder? Is it
someone you can trust and rely on?
I think that that is the most important
question that anybody should ask himself
or herself ANYWHERE they choose
to get their animals from. But, sometimes
even the greatest thing to do may be the
worst mistake that you ever made. A lot
of them are probably the best choice you
ever make to get an animal from. But you may
always find the best friend that you have been
hoping for.

Skateboarding: The Physical Art By Jarret Jung
Skateboarding is most often re-
ferred to as a hobby. It is one of my
favorite pastimes as it is for many
of my friends. Many professional
skateboarders are also professional
artists. Many kids who skateboard
also enjoy visual art. Skateboarding
is independent just like art. Skate-
boarding is a form of art.
A lot of professional skate-
boarders are artists. For example,
Mark Gonzales is a well-known
professional skateboarder who
designs the graphics for his pro-
Sports
model decks. He also has been
involved in art shows. The fact that
Mark Gonzales does art is not rare,
another professional skateboarder,
Ed Templeton also is a professional
skateboarder and artist. Numerous
skateboarders create visual art on
their boards, shoes, and traditional
paper. People who are interested
in art and create art often do more
than one form of art. Skateboard-
ing is the other form of art Mark
Gonzales does. Skateboarding is
appealing to many artists because it
is another form of art.
I have many friends
who both skateboard and are
talented artists. Many of my
friends who I skate with are
applying to LaGuardia for
visual art. My friends Noah
Lee, and Josue Caccers are
both talented skateboarders
and artists. Noah states, “One
day I would want to create
deck art.” They both applied
to LaGuardia and enjoy art
and skateboarding immensely.
Skateboarding is a form
of art because it expresses
feelings. Visual art clearly tells
a story and shows emotion.
Skateboarding is independent
and unique because of the
select styles and tricks skaters
do. Some skaters skate more
fluidly than others,
some artist paint
more smoothly. My
friend Noah says,
“In skateboarding
and art there are
no boundaries, also
everyone has their
own style”. Some
skaters attempt
huge obstacles,
some artists create
huge installations.
These are some of
the similarities be-
tween skateboard-
ing and visual art.
A huge part of
skating is the video
aspects. Skaters
go out and attempt
tricks and catch it
on video. Then
they put the video
clips together and
create art. Watch- you consider skateboarding a form
ing Mind Field, by Alien Workshop of art, sport, or a hobby it is some-
was viewing a piece of art. Skate thing to be appreciated. I hope that
videos showcase amazing skaters next time you see someone skating
doing their art, just as art shows you will think differently of what the
showcase artist’s work. Skate skater is doing. Skateboarding is a
videos are a strong aspect of skate- form of art.
boarding art.
Skateboarding is about expres- Above: Noah Lee on a tailslide.
sion. It can often be a way to blow Left, A student from East Side Commu-
off steam, and let loose. Whether nity H.S. busts a 5-0.

Track Team Exudes Healthy Attitude Continued from the front page
expanded the track team. only depend on myself relay team also won first
They are excited to learn for success.” place as where the 6th
from the 7th and 8th “Doing long jump is grade girls took second
graders and practice with like an addiction for me.,” place. After a hot 3 hours
someone besides the said El-Java Washing- of sitting under the sun,
coaches. 6th grader Julio ton. “Once I started I watching our team mates
Biel says, “Track is fun. couldn’t stop.” I agree, run, cheering real loud
I have met many friends.” as last year’s long jump and running everyone
“I love track, it’s champion. sits on the grass for a
become part of my Both boys and girls great lunch. Then on
everyday schedule,” 7th grade relays did a re- their way back to school.
said 7th grader Cristal ally good job. They took Far Left: Tyrell Elmore run-
Oliveres. “Running the everyone by surprise ning the 400.
relay has helped me have and won first place with Left: Nilsa, defending city-
trust in people and not pride. The 6th boys wide long jump champion.

The Phoenix News Tompkins Square Middle School Student Newsmagazine 8


The Spider Wick Chronicles
by Christopher Williams
Tony Diterlizzi is an author of a
book called the Spiderwick Chron-
icles. I liked the book because it
is full of imagination. Things like
trolls and goblins are brought to
life in this book, which was actually
turned into a movie.
Tony started to write when he
was 5 years old. What made him
think about writing the book was
his imagination, he was bored, then
the idea came to him and he wrote
Video Game Review
World Of Warcraft: WOW, Number One Game for Gamers, Worldwide
By Desi Tomaselli
World of Warcraft is the
most popular game in the world.
11.5 million people are playing
World of Warcraft as you read at
this moment! No Joke! I know it’s
Amazing! You should know that
you should call World of War-
craft, WOW because it stands
for WOW, plus it makes sense.
The company that makes WOW
is called Blizzard. Blizzard has
another game called Star Craft.
Gamer Addictions: Here are
some sad stories. There was once
a Chinese kid who was 8 years old
and he once played WOW for
32 hours. Then he killed himself
and he left a note saying that he
killed himself because he wanted
to join the heroes in WOW.
Another one is that most people
who play WOW has no life. All
they do is play WOW everyday. I
once heard on the news that a kid
was playing WOW and he plays
16 hours everyday. It makes him
more violent everyday. People play
WOW all over the world!
About the game: The game
is for adults. Lets start out the ba-
sics, first the main idea of the game
is that you have to complete quests.
You don’t have to if you don’t want
to though. That’s just the main
idea. You can do pretty much any-
thing like you can eat, sleep, drink,
beg, talk and more… I think
9 The Phoenix News Tompkins Square Middle School Student Newsmagazine
Book Review
it down. When was in the hopsital
Tony Diterlizzi came in to talk with
us kids. He was a very nice guy. He
showed everybody his book, and
gave everybody there a free copy of
his book.
In the book, Jared Simon and
Mallory grace get in real trouble.
The griffen, a dragon, a goblin, and
other things threaten them. There
is something drawn by Tony called
‘the protected circle,’ which is to
Above: Young people at an Internet Cafe in Chinatown play WOW.
Below: A screen shot of a monster from a live-action WOW game.
for some people it might be really
confusing because you can do so
much stuff. You can make friends
and it’s online. You choose what
side you want to be on likgood or
bad. Most people play as bad. You
also have to choose your race and
keep the goblins and malgarath out
of the house, and from getting the
power to take over the world and
destroy the protectded circle. If
Jared Simon and Mallrory gave the
book to Mulgarath, he would kill
them and take over the world. This
book is recomended for the exciting
action in the struggle between good
and evil.
your class. Race means like what
you want to be like a dwarf, gnome,
human, draenei and night elfs. The
others are taurens, undead, trolls,
orcs and blood elfs. Class means
what you are like a warrior, war-
lock, mage, hunter, paladin, priest,
shaman, rogue and Druids.
The highest level you can get
to is level 80. One level 80 means
the person’s been playing WOW
for at least a year. The world’s
record for how long it takes to get
to level 80 is less than 7 days. You
start at level 1.
People that work for WOW
are probably rich and their called
GMs. GM stands for Game
Master. About a 100 people work
for Blizzard. To keep the GMs
entertained, they have a Gym and
a cafeteria. They call the food
what the food is called in WOW.
Blizzard made up WOW manu-
als for the game. They also made
up fiction WOW books. WOW
has a visitor center in California.
They won’t let people go up into
the office to see what their GMs
are doing because they don’t want
people to steal their idea.
WOW is so popular that people
have taken there idea which is
called private servers. People copy
WOW for money. WOW is
trying to sue the people who are
making private servers. Stay tuned.
 Movie Review
Hebby Jebbies Short Film: Spooky, Freaky, and Bizarre
By Alex Greenblatt
The hebby jebbies short films at the
N.Y.I.C.F.F were the best short films
in the N.Y.I.C.F.F. My favorite films in
this group of films were Alma (direc-
tor: Rodrigo blaas; animated) and
Mortified (director: Robert Nevitt;
live action). Alma is about a little kid
that goes into a doll shop and realizes
that it is haunted. What tempts him to
go into the doll shop is he sees a doll
of himself and he gets very excited.
Mortified is about a little girl play-
ing hide and seek with her friends and
her friends all get stalked and killed by
an assassin. And apparently the assas-
sin is her father and she gets all mad at
him and complains that he always kills
her friends and its super embarrassing.
There are many more films. One
called Atormenta (The Storm)(direc-
tor: Cesar Melendez/Isabel Carrion;
animated) about a man super lonely in
the rain with no umbrella or raincoat
then he sees a little girl and the little
girl gives him her umbrella and then
the man gets struck by lighting and
the girl laughs at him and he gets
struck by lighting again. The anima-
tion was kind of like made of brown
goo on paper to show how wet it was.
Another film is called The Terrible
Thing from Alpha 9(director: Jake
Armstrong animated). It is about a
bounty hunter who goes on a journey
to hunt down a monster in a faraway Above: A still from the Man in the AlleyWay
planet. The monster is apparently Below: A still from the film “Alma.”
nice and the man is really cruel. He
tries to kill the monster. The monster
always escapes his traps at the end
of the movie (spoiler alert) the man’s
space helmet cracks and his head
explodes and blood goes everywhere
(eeeeeeeeeew) but at this point we
discover that many astronauts died
this way and there was a huge pile of
them.

Paris and Switzerland...
By Keno Burkhardt
During spring break I went
to Paris and Switzerland.
Our trip was to take us from
JFK airport to Paris and then
from Paris to Switzerland
where I have tons of family.
When we finally got off
the plane from Paris from
which we transferred to Swit-
zerland. We got off, dazed
from the flight, and made
our way to a town called
Rinngenberg. When we got
there, we settled in to our
house. (A family member let
us stay there.) The next day
we decide d to go hiking. We
went to the top of Europe…
The Junfraujoch. Yeah I said
that same thing, that’s a long
name!
It is pronounced Yung
frow yok. We took a train
that took us up the mountain.
I could see skiers gliding
beside the train as we passed.
It was really pretty. The alps
stood high and I felt tiny.
When we got all the way
to the top we were amazed!
That was just a preview of
my adventures. On the left
is a picture of a greek man
slaying a serpent. This was
in the Louvre. The Louvre
was a castle built for a King
of France. That was when the
French Revolution was going
on so the royalty was feeling
unsafe living in the middle
of Paris so they moved out
farther away to what is now
Versilles. Thats pronounced
Ver-sy. Then after they
moved out it turned in to
Travel
a museum. When I was
there i saw the Mona Lisa,
the Venis De Milo and
other incredible things! My
favorite thing I saw was
a painting by Leonardo
Da Vinci. The expression
on the woman’s face was
incredible! It scared me
how real it looked. That’s
how good it was.
Next , we went to
Switzerland. One thing I
saw that was amazing was
the water. The water is an
incredible! It looked like
something out of a movie.
It was too cold to go swim-
ming but I wanted to. After
the days in our trip ended we Above: Hercules slaying a serpent, in the
went to Air France. Over all Louvre in Paris, France.
I am glad I went to Paris and
Switzerland!

The Phoenix News Tompkins Square Middle School Student Newsmagazine 10

 Our School, After School
Art Not War - A Manifesto Performed At the Cabaret Night By Tasmin Ersahin
W e live in a capitalist world with so much con-
sumed and wasted. In our world, corporations dominate
our food, our clothing, the media and the way we think.
Corporations want us to believe that mass-produced food
from cruel animal factories and chemicals in our food are
okay to eat. They want us to believe that wearing clothing
made in poor countries with many unfairly paid workers is
cool. They want us to believe that war is necessary.
Is killing innocent people really necessary and in doing
so making us “protected”? We must rethink this world of
ours. Clearly this generation dominating the world right
now is not doing a very good job. I think its time that
they listen to us, the young generation with better, more
eco-friendly and humane ideas that will save our world
from turning into an oligarchy dominated by the wealthy
corporation owners.
Sometimes I wonder if there will ever be a day where no
gun is shot, no bomb is dropped, and no killing takes place
in our world (human or animal). If only there was more art
and no war. Right: Via Reinerston, Zyselke Tarnai, Tasmin Ersahin

Music Review
Nirvana’s “Incesticide” Reviewed By Max Stalker-Wilde
Incesticide is a Nirvana album released in Decem-
ber 15, 1992. It was one of the last things Nirvana did
before the frontman Kurt Cobain shot himself in the
face. It features songs such as Dive, Sliver and (new
wave version) Polly. The band is not known for par-
ticularly fancy playing on this record. The solos were
not fast and the singing was always simple. The band
was better known for the album Nevermind which
featured Smells Like Teen Spirit. Incesticide uses
features where he could appear to be singing two things at
once, using looping machines. This album was an important
part of the grunge genre. So if you’re a fan of Nirvana, buy it.
Or illegally download it, since this is New York. The word
incesticide means the murder of sex with your family. I
think the idea is it combines the most taboo subjects in one
album title.

Food
Neighborhood Eats: Black Iron Burger
Americans consume around 1,200,000
hamburgers a year. That may seem like a lot,
but based on the quality of the ones at the
Black Iron Burger, it just might be all worth it.
A perfectly cooked burger, fresh lettuce and
tomatoes, sour pickles, cheese (optional), and
more, all fit between two fluffy toasted buns,
and all for no more than $5 at the Black Iron
Burger, just around the corner from the school,
tucked away on 5th street between avenues A
and B.
Walk in through the swinging glass door
paned in black. Step into the dim, musky
atmosphere, the walls covered with cloudy,
faded mirrors. There are high round tables with
By Lucy
wooden chairs scattered around the
room.
The counter is long and dark,
with the bar setup just beyond it. In
the back are the best seats, a slightly
bigger table parked between two
stools and a hard wooden booth.
There are containers filled with
napkins and knives lined up along the
walls, as well as ketchup and mustard.
Fries are $4 and milkshakes are 6, Phoenix News Stafff enjoying the perks of the job.
but if you ask they’ll throw in a free drink with
your fries. The Black Iron Burger is a great If you’re looking for a delicious hide-away
out-to-lunch place, both cheap and tasty, and to spend your out to lunch time, then you’ve
convenient too. definitely found it here.

11 The Phoenix News Tompkins Square Middle School Student Newsmagazine

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