By Sarah Connelly In Texas, a woman named Sharanda Jones is sitting in prison, serving a life sentence without parole for a first-time, nonviolent cocaine offense. She will die in jail. In Norway, another man, Anders Breivik, sits in prison. He murdered 77 people in an act of right-wing terrorism, and he has the potential to get out in ten years. He could walk free by 2022. It would be simple to assume that making a habit of locking away small-time criminals and drug offenders for life would keep petty crime off the streets, and that a lax system which allows neo-Nazi mass murderers to walk free so quickly would leave a country in shambles, destroyed by criminals who have no reason to fear capture. And yet these things are never quite that simple. As it would turn out, Norway has one of the most successful criminal justice systems in the world. Countries like Sweden and Finland, who use similar methods of corrections, are doing just as well. The United States correctional system, on the other hand, is a huge failure. By Ersha Kumar In 2008, an amazing event happened for the first time in over 200 years - the election of an African American president. Since then, Americans can only think of one other president that would bring our country forward in terms of equality, which in this case would be a female president. Hillary Clinton has made her name as a frontrunner for the 2016 election. However, many Americans, such as Wilson teens, are starting to doubt whether or not she is gaining popularity due to her policies or due to her gender. Sarah Reinbrecht, junior, says, “Just because she’s a woman doesn’t always mean she has better policies for our country or even better policies for women.” She then adds on, "I think a lot of people do like that she's a woman, but at the same time, some women see past her gender and feel like she's not the best candidate for presidency.” By Brendan Wetmore Dear Nicole Arbour, you are not funny, you are not being profound, and you are definitely not helping anyone. Nicole Arbour, a social media celebrity and self professed “comedian," released a highly controversial video this month entitled “Dear Fat People,” in which she repeatedly insults and attacks heavy people. The video was easily a transparent grab at the press’s attention, and if she wanted to be featured on Wendy Williams’ “Hot Topics” or have hundreds of negative articles written about her, then she has certainly achieved her goal. The “bomb of truth” she says she has dropped has angered millions of people. However, it's unclear to me what this “bomb of truth” was. By Jada Butler In the primary stages of Wilson’s one-to-one program, students were faced with some minor restrictions with computer games, social media sites, and a few elicit YouTube videos. This year we can see that the administrators are working overtime to find more ways to block students from getting distracted in class. But these restrictions are causing more harm than help. Access to research websites, Google Communities, and YouTube videos categorized under “music” have been blocked, and have caused a halting crash in student productivity. How can any classwork get done when every time a student clicks a link, they are brought to the familiar gray screen flashing a bright blue, “Restricted”? Students find the restrictions inconvenient. “ I think it’s ridiculous,” says Molly Reinhart, senior. With so many words blacklisted on Google search engines, finding articles, websites, and videos for class projects is nearly impossible. “It makes researching hard,” says Jared Hayick, senior. “For media classes, we had to look for commercials on YouTube, but everything is blocked.” Restrictions are not only blocking student access, but also the quality of their projects and papers. When the main source for researching is inaccessible, students are left to flit through second and third standard informational hubs like Wikipedia where facts are not one-hundred percent guaranteed to be correct, which can leave damaging effects on student grades. Why are more and more websites being placed on the blocking list as each day goes by? Why are apps and extensions such as Google Hangouts and Google+ Communities being taken off the screen? In an email addressing the entire student body, Mr. Trickett explains, “Google Plus, like most media sites, is becoming very difficult to monitor.” The removal of Google+ primarily struck a wave of negativity from the student body and faculty alike. Google+ was used widely by teachers as an open classroom forum. Google+ was also used as an informational bulletin for multiple clubs and student activities. The sudden removal was a major setback for many who relied on Google+ for communication between adviser and club members. Most students place the blame on those who used their chromebooks irresponsibly and were caught by the administrators. “I think people who were immature ruined it for everyone,” Molly says. Instead of the administrators completely blocking the sites, apps, and extensions for every single student, the school should take an approach that wheedles out the specific students who are inappropriately using their chromebooks when in school. Wilson students are being jailed in from every angle, limiting the reach of our resources. “It shouldn’t affect everyone,” says Erin Thiry, junior.Bring down the prison bars, Wilson! By Emily Graciano Coffee makes you poop and poop can make you the most expensive cup of coffee in the world. In Indonesia, farmers use the feces of the Asian palm Civet cat in order to create this rare coffee called Kopi Luwak. In order to make Kopi Luwak, wild civet cats feast on the coffee cherries of their native tree. While the cherries are being digested in the cat, the cherry portion is removed and there is only the seed or “bean” left. The beans come out whole in the cat poop and they are later separated, washed, dried, roasted and packaged. Kopi Luwak averages about $80 a cup and up to $600 for a pound. Why are cat pooped coffee beans so pricey, you may be wondering? It is simply because of it’s rarity and unique taste. There is only about 500-1000 pounds of Kopi Luwak produced yearly, compared to the 1.8 million tons of Brazilian coffee. Kopi Luwak is not produced in large quantities because the process is tedious and a bit absurd.For example, the best Kopi Luwak comes from the wild civet cats because they choose to eat the best cherries. Some farmers even capture the civet cats in order to produce the coffee and the cats will eat to satisfy their hunger, not to satisfy their taste. Kopi Luwak’s regular drinkers will recommend to drink it without milk or sugar, so as to get the full effect. “The taste of the coffee is very unique and there is no need to modify it,” they would say. Many people are skeptical about Kopi Luwak because of it’s poopy reputation - literally. When people hear that the coffee comes from cat poop they are immediately turned off, but I assure you the beans are washed thoroughly before it is packaged and sold! Additionally, some may think that it is cruel to use the cats for their own profit, but Kopi Luwak is not categorized as this because the Civet cats are not being forced to consume the coffee beans - they eat them because they taste good (on both ends). However, if the feces comes from wild cats that are en-captured on farms, the process could easily take a wrong turn. Kopi Luwak is original in every aspect, and is worth spending the pretty penny. If this rare treat if something that catches your interest, Kopi Luwak bags can be bought off of websites like Amazon, but caution is advised. Scams are very popular and people will often sell non-authentic Kopi Luwak. As they say in Indonesia, “Kau memberi makan kucing Anda hari ini atau tidak kucing Anda makan Anda?” Did you feed your cat today or did your cat feed you? |
Elena Caputo
Hi! My name is Elena, and I'm a senior at Wilson and one of the Editors of the Editorial section. If you have any questions or ideas or if you want to write, email me at [email protected]! Olivia MonosHello! My name is Olivia and I'm a junior this year, and one of the editors of the Editorial section! I'm really excited to write for the Paw Print again this year!
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