Ever heard of Lithuania?
April 27, 2010
If you were asked to locate the nation of Lithuania on a map, could you? Unless you’re junior Evelina Vaisvilaite, there’d be a good chance that you couldn’t.
Evelina is a citizen of both the United States and Lithuania, though you’d never guess it.
She was born in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania.
“We moved when I was just 1 year old, because my parents won the lottery green card, which allowed us to immigrate to America,” she said.
Moving at such a young age has not immunized her against the culture of her home, however.
Everyone wears Bepser
April 27, 2010
A well-known student entrepreneur at Issaquah High School is junior Ben Wright, co-founder of the clothing company Bepser.
The halls of IHS are full of students sporting Bepser’s comfortable hoodies and T-shirts, recognizable by the signature cloud design printed on every item.
Wright, 16, and his older brother Spencer, 20, officially started Bepser in 2009. The company’s unique name is derived from “a combination of Ben and Spencer,” Wright said.
Production of Bepser products takes place at home.
The Hot List
April 27, 2010
Web site: formspring.me
This new Internet hot spot allows users to create profiles for the sole purpose of answering questions posted — often anonymously — by random people. The never-ending virtual interviews are both revealing and addicting. Warning: This is not for the easily distracted.
Book: “Beatrice and Virgil,” by Yann Martel
The author of “Life of Pi” returns with an epic and thought-provoking narrative told in his unique style of featuring animal characters. In this more autobiographical work, Henry, a writer, tries to find ways to retell the events of the Holocaust. In doing so, he comes across a strange taxidermist, as well as Beatrice the donkey and Virgil the howler monkey.
Movie: “Kick-Ass”
What health care reform means to us
April 27, 2010
A lot of talk has surrounded the recently signed health care bill, and as it waits finalization by the U.S. Senate, the bill has raised as many questions as it has answered. But the basic need for a plan — and the effect of it on teens today — is relatively unambiguous.
The need for health care over the past decade has become apparent as prices of basic health care climb and the costs of dealing with disease become unreal. New and expensive asthma medications can cost $50 per prescription. For youths with diabetes, the annual cost of medications has doubled from 2001 to 2007, while the number of children with diabetes has been steadily increasing.
According to the American Diabetes Association, treating the disease cost the average patient $6,649 in 2007. As said by Time magazine, such things as growth hormone deficiencies have staggeringly high costs and the annual bill for parents can exceed $20,000 — doctor’s visits, tests and hospitalizations not included.
How to: green your life
April 27, 2010
Reducing the size of your carbon footprint can be overwhelming. Here are six easy lifestyle changes for teens who want to be more environmentally friendly, but don’t know where to start:
By Max Smith-Holmes
1. Eat locally. Reducing the distance your food travels eats up less gasoline and helps strengthen connections between communities and farmers. Try visiting the Issaquah Farmers Market.
2. Whenever you can, check out books, movies and CDs from the library instead of purchasing them.
3. Start a garden in your backyard. Experiment with growing your own vegetables without the use of pesticides and enjoy the tasty joys of working outdoors.
4. Remove your name from junk mail lists, especially colleges you’re not interested in.
5.Drive less frequently. You can take full advantage of the public Metro system by investing in a bus card. Issaquah is also a wonderful city to walk around and bike in.
6. “Simplify, simplify, simplify,” Henry David Thoreau said. Decluttering your life is the most effective way to live a greener and healthier lifestyle.
To get green lifestyle tips, go here and discover the size of your carbon footprint, as well as more ways to reduce your negative impact on the environment!
If it’s spring, it must be time for car shows
April 27, 2010
As the days get longer, the forecasts sunnier and the temperatures warmer, I start noticing these gleaming old machines passing by me when I’m in my old maroon BMW 2002. To me and thousands of car enthusiasts in Issaquah, that means the Triple X Rootbeer Drive-In is opening its parking lots to classic cars, trucks and motorcycles from around the Puget Sound area.
After waking up early to wash my car and throw on a fresh coat of wax, I promptly leave the house to acquire a prime spot in the lot — usually near other European cars — so I can grab a deluxe burger and sit in my lawn chair enjoying the event.
Broadway classic comes to Pacific Cascade Freshman Campus
April 27, 2010
Count your ponies, put down your bet and grab your dames as Pacific Cascade Freshman Campus students pull up the curtain on “Guys and Dolls.”
“These students have been working hard since the end of February,” said vocal director Joellen Santos. “They’re a great group.”
The directors settled on the show when they found out how many students, especially boys, they had interested in turning out for the spring musical.
“We wanted something that would be flexible, so we could use as many kids in the show as possible,” Director Amy Byus said. “What high school kid doesn’t want to pretend to be a gangster?”
Like the rabble-rousing movie starring Frank Sinatra and Marlon Brando, these ninth-graders have some panache of their own to add.
See ‘Honk! Jr.’ at Issaquah Middle School
April 27, 2010
When five eggs hatch under the guidance of a mother duck, it takes a strong one to raise them, especially when the fifth is the noisiest and most ugly of all ducklings seen.
Issaquah Middle School Squak Valley Players present “Honk! Jr.,” a play based on Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Ugly Duckling.” The show premieres at 7 p.m. April 30 with additional shows at 7 p.m. May 1, 7 and 8 at the school, 400 First Ave. S.E.
While Ugly doesn’t quite fit in — mainly because no one knows what he is — he becomes the center of attention in the barnyard.
Carol Ramsay Smith
April 27, 2010
Carol Smith
Carol Ramsay Smith of Des Plaines, Ill., died Sunday morning April 18, 2010, in Issaquah. She was 83.
Student rock bands booked to perform at library
April 27, 2010
The Kaleidoscope School of Music returns for its fourth year outside the Issaquah Library with five student rock bands to help kick off the DownTown Issaquah Association’s ArtWalk.
Three teen bands and two adult bands will perform about 50 songs, covering classics from the ’60s to some of today’s modern rock.
Teacher Charles McCrone said the students have been rehearsing since October to get ready. The teen groups will perform 30- to 40-minute sets while the adult bands get one hour each.
“We’ll keep on performing until they stick a hook out and pull us off stage,” McCrone said.
McCrone started the rock ensemble classes at Kaleidoscope in 2001 and his students made their debut in 2004 at the Fenders on Front Street car show. Read more
