Review: "American Honey"

“American Honey” by Lady Antebellum

By Bekah Sanderson

“American Honey” sung by the band Lady Antebellum is country anthem. As a band, drinking whiskey and having a good time they started a three person melody, making up lyrics with the sound of the guitar reminiscing on easier times of life.

This song is in the album “Need You Now.” While other albums, winning them several awards and being nominated for others. The band has won 8 grammy awards, 5 CMT music awards, 1 people’s choice awards, 2 Billboard awards and been nominated for over 128 awards. Their most famous albums are “Own the Night” “747” and “Golden.”

An inside on the song is that “American Honey” is based on the alcohol whiskey, that contains a little honey. The band knew it would be a perfect title to the song, while drinking it and singing but had it have the meaning towards the life of a girl.

The song “American Honey” is about a little girl growing up in small town “where the church bells ring and strong love grows” but as she was ready to get away and start her life, growing up wasn't as easy. She explains that she “Gets caught in the race of this crazy life, Tryin' to be everything, Can make you lose your mind I just wanna go back in time, To American Honey.” After listening to the song and knowing the meaning it is much easier to understand that she misses the summertime, drinking whiskey and being back to much simpler times.

I think that high schoolers and young adults who have experienced this same issues would really like this song. It isn’t exactly a upbeat dancing song, but singing and hearing the melody it is fun song to listen too.

Review: "Church Bells” by Carrie Underwood

By Becca P.

“ Church Bells” sung by Carrie Underwood may start with a marriage, but the narrator Jenny finds another way to make those church bells ring. Carrie Underwood, a country singer and songwriter, has written yet another toe-tapping, story-telling song.

Carrie Underwood has produced many number one songs. Some of her best known works are “ Before He Cheats,” “ Cowboy Casanova,” and “Last Name.” “Church Bells” her new number 1 song is from her album “Storyteller.” Underwood has been in the music business since 2005, when she won American Idol and is now known as one of the most successful female music artists in any genre.

The song “Church Bells” first tells about a little about a girl named Jenny and how she grew up. It then goes on to tell us about how she meets a rich man and she thinks it's all, “roses, dripping in diamonds, sipping on champagne.” As the song progresses, it tells us that the perfect guy “was always getting way too drunk.” Jenny was always, “bruises, covered in makeup, dark sunglasses.” Then Jenny finally gets fed up with all the abuse and, “slips something in his Tennesse whiskey no law man was ever gonna find.” Underwood and fellow writer Zach Crowell very strategically lay out the entire song for us, as if it was a story and not a song. When they lay it out in such a way it's easier for the listener to better understand what the meaning of the song is.

The song argues, never allow a man to overpower you. If he tries to overpower you in an abusive sort of way, get out of the relationship as fast as possible. Never allow it to be able to get to that point. Never allow it to get to where you have to take matters into your own hands and doing something that can get you into major trouble if anyone ever happened to find out.  

High school and college-aged females would really enjoy this song. They would especially enjoy this song if they are in to upbeat country music that has a strong deep meaning to it. This song would be a good one for someone who doesn’t have a super strong personality and who doesn’t think that they have the power to stand up for themselves and get out of tough or bad situations on their own.

Do you want to learn how to draw some pretty good animals?

By Trinity Amador

Do you want to learn how to draw some pretty good animals? If you are unmotivational about drawing and you want to excel in drawing then this book is great for you. Now if you're not good at shading or starting out with figures to make into something, this book gives you tips in the beginning of the book on how to shade and other useful techniques for your drawings to look more efficient.

If drawing animals isn't your thing  Jack Hamm makes other books too. My writing teacher told me she just isn't into animals. But she is into wonder woman, which is a good thing because Jack Hamm made a book called Cartooning The Head And Figure.  It's a book that opens the field of cartooning to anyone who enjoys to draw. I personally never read this book but i did look up a review and it has four and a half stars. It says “This book should be titled "The Encyclopedia of Cartooning the Head & Figure" since it not only demonstrates a variety of techniques, but it also thoroughly catalogs eyes, noses, mouths, expressions, and positions to name a few. Whether you use this book to learn to draw or to get ideas, you will use this book. ( )” Library Thing.

How To Draw Animals by Jack Hamm has the basic fundamentals for a beginner. The simple step by step instructions have over one thousand illustrations to visually show you how to draw the specific animal you wish to draw. This book is really good for beginners or even those who are experienced. I drew a couple of animals and they turned out amazing.

So take it from me, if you wish to improve in drawing then you should check his books out in your local library or even school library. If you don't really like to draw and u have no dedication to it then don't even waste your time with reading Hamm's books. There the type of books that you want if you're trying to improve or need tips for your drawings.

Basketball’s Best Shots Review

By Jordan Black

In the book “Basketball’s Best Shot’s”, Frazier shows some of the best and most iconic pictures in the history of the game. The book shows some of the best shots taken on and off the court. Also, it shows some of the grace, passion, and the energy the players have for the game. It also show a tribute to the game by highlighting some of the best moments in the game of basketball.

Walt “Clyde” Frazier attended Southern Illinois University and is one of the top 50 players that have ever played in the National Basketball Association history. Frazier currently now works for the Madison Square Garden as an announcer for the New York Knicks and also as an analyst. Frazier has two NBA Championships with the New York Knicks in 1970 and 1973. He is a 7 time NBA All-Star and All-Star MVP. He is in the NBA Hall of Fame, and has the number 10 retired for the Knicks as well as number 52 retired retired for Southern Illinois University.

The book shows no apparent order in the way it is organized. It just shows the iconic photos of importance in the history of the NBA.

I think any avid basketball, or sports lover would like this book . Along with iconic picture is has captions to go with every picture so that the reader know what is going on. This is a great book that show a lot of the history of the game of basketball, a tribute to the 50 greatest players in the history of the game. This is a great book for all ages. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

The Steady Incline of Fortuna Arts

By Zalie Padilla

   In the Fortuna High School’s art building featuring diverse art classes like Drawing 1 and ceramics, the dreams of advancing their building is becoming a near reality. However, the art building has a tradition of keeping the assigned art very open to creativity. “I like to make student connections.” says Daniel Holmes, one out of two of the art teachers.

   Over years of both Daniel Holmes and Keirsten Escalante working, they noticed the traditionality of art being swept out the door by modern art. Escalante sees it as a mild tragedy with her views that modern art has become lazy and less captivating. Holmes however, encourages different levels and  challenges in art. Whatever their opinions, they both agree that keeping up with how art is viewed is crucial for relating with the students. Holmes says, “The class is always fluid. It changes techniques and flow. I always try and keep it running smoothly.”

  While keeping up with the arts, they both have exciting plans for the art building and community. More art fairs and public art displays are on the way of this school year. They want coffee shops to keep their walls and shelves clear for the students’ divine art. Escalante has also worked with the school constructors on a plans that will be boosting the art building physical looks. The plans are realistically expected to take action over the course of the next five years.

Fortuna High's new basebal coaches

 

                                                                                      

By Holden Palmer

Casey Emmons and Saul Lewis were hired as the new Fortuna High Baseball coaches. Lewis is the head coach, and Emmons is the assistant coach.

When asking Emmons what makes him want to be a coach for the huskies, Emmons  wants to coach because it's a great group of kids that are willing to learn and give 100%. Also Emmons believes that Lewis and him would make a good coaching team.

Emmons has coached for about 11 years. Emmons goal this year coaching is to make better ball players mentally and physically.

When I asked Emmons if he believes in equal amount of playing time on the field his response was “no because we play to win”. Emmons has been playing baseball for 13 years.

Meditation with Alvarez

By Brenda

    Meditation is a strategy to relieve stress, anxiety, depression,  and improve healthier body, immunity, and focus. Alvarez does meditation with her students because it's something that Alvarez was taught and did in her daily life.

    Alvarez wanted to share with her students because it had a lot of benefits for students with special needs. Alvarez meditates 3-4 times a week for about 5-7 minutes. Alvarez has meditated for as long as an hour. I asked Alvarez how often should one meditate and her response was “it really is up to the person.”

College Credit Through High school Credit

By Zane Zerlang

    Mr. Roslosnik has been teaching at Fortuna High for many years and finally has a class to get college credit for the 2016-2017 year

    When what the class does for the kids Roslosnik said, "This class prepares the kids to move onto higher education with the necessary skills." Now for being an advanced class there are only 12 students in the class. Thought the year the kids are constantly challenged and pushed to do better. At the end of the year the kids have a chance to get certified at welding.

Rod Kausen Retires

By Rickiyah McGrady

    This year the senior class of 17’ from Fortuna Union High will be graduation along with a beloved teacher. Rod Kausen will move on to the next chapter of his life along with all of us seniors. He has been teaching for 34 years and coaching track and field for 35 years. He seems to be a favorite at Fortuna High with his humor and almost always has a classroom of laughing students.

    Kausen is a great teacher and you’ll get that response from the majority of students you ask around campus. Although he loves his job and all of his students, he's looking forward to having less questions thrown at him and to do somethings a little less intense in life; for example, he's ready to sleep in everyday and be on his own schedule. When asked his plans for after retirement he responded with, “I am not someone who is going to sit around watch T.V. I have some business ideas I am working on and I have lots of skills where I can continue to stay busy supplementing retirement. I will also get back into physical shape, enjoy my hobbies, travel more, and like I said sleep in more.”

    He’s been teaching for so many years that it's hard for him to choose one specific memory as his favorite. Kausen laughs with his students everyday but hidden in those laughs he shares some special and touching moments between himself and a student. He loves lip sync memories and discussions in psychology but one of his proudest moments is when he was able to coach a student who he watched become a State Track and Field champion.

    Although Kausen will be moving on with his life, he still has some future hopes for Fortuna High. He would really like to see schools go back to when students wanted to learn. He feels as though there's many students who see no need to get good grades or gain more knowledge than they already have. He also wants students at Fortuna High to continue learning how to treat one another with respect. Kausen will continue volunteering as a track coach after his retirement and is hoping to see the team continue flourishing and succeeding at a high level.

Elyse Dorman, the New Teacher

By Brenda Mejia Garcia

    Dorman attended college at Sonoma State and also HSU. Dorman first started teaching English just last year.

   Dorman says she enjoys teaching. Dorman chose to teach English because she really enjoys reading and writing. She also thinks it's really cool when young people come up with cool new ideas.

Jacey Spies joins social studies and English department

By Majesta Hibberd

Fortuna this year, and last, has had the privilege of hiring new teachers. Ms. Spies was interviewed last week and had a few things to say about the school and the students she teaches.

   When asked if she had any concerns coming in, she responded with, “I didn’t, I think that was the problem!” After that, she was asked about her expectations. Ms. Spies revealed she had high expectations for her student but in all reality, they weren't the best. They gave attitude and took advantage of her kindness. Now, however, Ms. Spies says they’re great and things got better.

   Even though there was struggles, Ms. Spies does like it here. Now, her only real complaint is bullying. She believes it should be talked about earlier in the year.

    Over all, please respect teachers and your fellow peers alike.

FFA looks ahead to a full year

By Sam Betts

    This years Fortuna High Agriculture teachers Mrs. Kleiner and Ms. Lovfald are looking forward to a fun, active, and hard working school year.

    The first FFA meeting of the year was held on September 20 at 7 p.m. and was a big success. It was held in the shop at the department and a total of one hundred and twenty two students attended. That is fifty three percent of the membership. This year seems to have a lot of active members which is good for the department.

    Although FFA is an elective class, it has plenty of skillful opportunities available.  It can increase leadership skills, provide opportunities to gain work experience, and make you a successful contributor to the society. Ag also provides your choice of different activities like conferences, competitive competition teams, and raising animals at the Humboldt County fair.  

    A new ag class has been added to the department, Agriculture Soil Chemistry. It is UC/CSU approved physical science course that meets the same requirements as any other chemistry class on campus. Kleiner, the teacher of this new course, "It prepares students for an agriculture career or ag major in college." This new course is a great opportunity for members enrolled in the ag department.

James Richardson joins social studies department

By Trinity Amador

    James Richardson is a new teacher at FUHS 2016. He says he likes Fortuna High a lot.

    Mr. Richardson is a football coach. There are no negative things he could think of so far. He teaches history for freshman, social science, world history for sophomores, and U.S history for juniors. This is his first full-time teaching job.

   Before he came to Fortunas High, he was substitute teacher for a year with kindergarten through 12th grade. He worked one-on-one with autistic kids. He's been wanting to be a teacher since the eighth grade. He definitely had an influence from having a few amazing teachers growing up. A majority of his family are teachers too. Richardson is the tenth teacher in his family. He feels that he should give back to the community.

“Education is key to success in the world.”

-James Richardson

Dress up drive Homecoming spirit

By KK Ashby     

     Our school started doing dress up days for homecoming to show willingness to show your school spirit and enthusiasm throughout the week.The school started doing dress up days for homecoming week long before Mrs. Coit was a teacher. The dress up days create positive memories with fun and silly pictures.

   It makes Mrs.Coit very happy to see people positivity around school. At our school we have a spirit stick, and in order to win that spirit stick you have to have a good attitude and have a lot of people dress up for the days. The dress up days for this week is Monday: holiday,Tuesday: middle school fashion disaster, Wednesday: ocean day, Thursday: class color, and Friday :husky blue. So have school spirit and dress up for homecoming week!

“ Homecoming week is a happy memory and it’s inspiring to see that so many people dress up” - Mrs. Coit

Possibilities Given for Fortuna High Classes

By Cameron Schleef

Fortuna,California- As the upcoming years at Fortuna High breeze by we can only think, is there going to be any new classes or ideas of classes for the next coming years.

On Thursday September 29, 2016, Michelle Simmons;the records secretary at Fortuna High gave an insight on the upcoming new classes to come in the future years at Fortuna High.

The classes that are being considered in the next years according to Michelle Simmons was French and Sports medicine. Past classes might also return such as rural rec,weight training, and American history through film. This will give the students more options to become more academic in their school studies.

Michelle says the only way new classes and old classes can add and go away is that “It's just a matter of the course requests that are requested by the students.”

In her opinion, the classes that should be added include fashion design,and a computer class to get students up-to-date on today's skills in the real world.

Hannah Gomez switches from intern to counselor

By Areli Silva

     For the year of 2016 at Fortuna Union High School we have a few new staff members. One of the new staff members is Hannah Gomez. She was an intern last year and is now officially a counselor at our school for all grades.

   She very much enjoys her job and is looking forward to helping as many students as she can. She counsels students and makes the right path for kids. She makes sure they find the right college and career related paths. She helps create their 4-year plans and talk about their future and recent grades, also about schedule changes or even if someone's having a tough day and they just want to talk, if they want extra support, extra counseling, tutoring and just things that fall along with those categories.

Gomez said, “Without a doubt it is the best job I could have asked for. The paperwork isn't to bad but the best part is working with the kids one-to-one. I want to find a better future for myself as well as everyone else.” She enjoys helping many people, mainly high school kids. She told me that she remembers back when she was in high school she had people there for her but didn't get any any extra support to guide her. She said, “There was no guidance for me. I felt lost and I don't want anyone else to feel that way. I want them to have support, so they have a path for the future.” She is one of many staff members that are very kind and spend their time making sure we have a brighter future.

Measure E: Benefit or Drawback?

By Jasmine Knostman

    In November of 2016, you will have a chance to vote on Measure E, a prop that will decide whether or not to add .75% of  tax on anything sold in Fortuna. Erin Dunn, CEO of Chamber of Commerce talked about the benefits and repercussions of something like Measure E being passed this fall and how it will impact the community.

    Dunn spoke about how it will help the community in many ways.“It is there to provide extra police, it’s there to help with keeping up our parks, it’s there to help with all different kinds of things..” She also spoke about how if Measure E is passed we will be at the same level as Eureka and Arcata’s sales tax.

    According to Measure E’s facebook page, “A “YES” vote on Measure E will provide financial stability to the city and ensure that services not only remain at the current level, but can be increased as the dynamics of the city change."

    A major benefit of measure E is that it will help balance the general funds. For example, since funding has been cut, many city employees have been fired. This has led to Fortuna having a lack of gardeners for the River lodge, less police and many other important aspects that help our town be a safe and beautiful place to live.

Vice Principal and Student’s give opinion on dress code

By Liana

    After sitting down and having an interview with the Fortuna Union High School’s Vice Principal, Mr. Williams, and a student, Julia Lowry, about the dress code policy it was made clear by Mr. Williams that it will be upheld fairly.

   

     After a series of questions for Mr. Williams, he specified and elaborated the policy and how it will be upheld. Having been asked what caused the sudden change, he specified that how it is worded now is less offensive and less directed at specific students rather the High School as a whole. “...instead if having specific gangs mentioned or specific clothing that would match a specific gang, it was just changed to gang affiliated attire.”

    Williams made it known that more boys ignored the dress code rather than females after having been questioned on how he would approach a female regarding her clothing options. Lowry’s response to whether or not the dress code was necessary was aimed more towards people who don’t show respect for themselves or other by their clothing attire instead of people who understood the proper attire for a working environment.

    Miss Lowry was also questioned about what she disagreed with when it came to the dress code. “The dress code seems to be upheld more often with girls rather than boys.” was her response in regards to both the question and Mr. Williams’ answer on whether or not boys and girls were targeted equally.