Daily Archives: June 7, 2021

Clubs and Activities, School Life

‘Matilda’: The musical shown by HPSH Theater

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By: McKenna Nutter

‘Matilda’ is about a little girl born into a nasty, unappreciative family. A genius girl, full of stories and a mind as wide as the sky, trapped in a horrible family and a horrible school, run by the nasty Ms. Trunchbull. Agatha Trunchbull, ex-hammer throwing champion, runs a school much like a prison, and depending who you ask, some place much worse.

The only sort of light that reaches the classroom is the teacher, Jenny Honey. A kind-hearted soul, just as trapped as Matilda, Ms. Honey has never been able to find the courage to fight for herself, but when a clever little girl comes to her classroom, Jenny may find a reason to stand up for herself, Matilda, and her students. 

This year, Highland Park Theater got the opportunity to share this story. Senior Briana Li-Heidkamp sung her heart out as Matilda and Junior Jaya Bird could not have done better in her role of Ms. Honey.

One of the funniest parts in the show goes to Ms. Trunchbull, and senior Cleo Foley had everyone rolling with laughter.

This year has been a hard year, and in theater we had no exception. Without a full audience, it was harder to keep the spirit up in the auditorium, but between all of the hard work, the whole cast and crew were able to have fun.

If you aren’t involved in theater, it’s hard to know how much goes into a performance. This year, we had actors and crew in everyday after school working hard on learning lines for a two hour show.

Basketball

The end of J. Cole’s basketball career

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By: Alexandra Rimbu

Rap star, J. Cole, has ended his short-lived pro basketball career in light of a “family obligation”.

During his time with Rwanda Patriots BBC, of the Basketball Africa League, he scored 5 points, grabbed 5 rebounds, and tallied 3 assists in 45 minutes, in three appearances – an extremely sub-par performance. This has prompted many to mock Cole’s career. Others, however, are more focused on the fact that his career should never have begun.

As Cole has previously expressed, his two dreams in life were to pursue music and basketball. Cole focused more on music however, and he is now a mainstream rap star.

Basketball has always remained as one of his hobbies though, and it is for this particular reason that many argue he should never have been given a chance to play pro, because the fact remains that basketball is just a hobby for him.

Cole told ‘SLAM Magazine’, “The main parallel that I always draw between music and basketball is like, ‘Yo, it’s just a matter of hours. The difference between the pro guy that sits on the bench and the superstar, it’s just a matter of intentional hours”. Cole has put in these intentional hours for music, but he has not put in the intentional hours for basketball. 

Many label Cole as being selfish in this respect. He has not put in the effort the way others have, to build a career for himself in basketball, rather he was served it on a silver platter. He used his celebrity to take part in his favorite hobby, contradicting even himself. How can he claim that in order to make it big you need to put in the hours when he himself has not done so?

Cole has robbed more deserving athletes of a chance. Athletes who make it based on their skill, not their name. Athletes who sacrifice their lives to make it. Athletes who have put in those intentional hours.

So, it comes that Cole’s finished basketball career is, in fact, a blessing. For his spot can now be given up to someone more deserved, who will be able to accomplish the dream they have so long strived for.

Movies/TV/Theaters, Science/Nature

Hollywood science: Fact or fiction

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By: Grace Helmke

Hollywood has allowed us to visit incredible places and experience thrilling adventures filled with death-defying jumps, and heart-wrenching love stories. It has allowed science to come alive in a way that’s never before been seen. It has led us through stories of time travel, cloning, and so much more.

However, sometimes these films have a little more fiction than fact. Today, we are going to explore the science behind some famous TV shows and movies, and determine whether or not they are fact or fiction. 

‘Jurassic Park’ 

‘Jurassic Park’ centers around the idea that one one could create dinosaurs from blood in a mosquito, encased in amber, and preserved for millions of years.

This is simply false.

Steve Brusatte, a paleontologist, said that the likelihood of cloning a dinosaur is close to impossible. In order to make this happen, you would need the whole genome. However, no one has ever found dinosaur DNA. So, it’s incredibly unlikely that a T-Rex could get loose and wreak havoc in the future. 

‘Star Trek’ 

A major part of the show was the crew’s ability to travel at the speed of light. They called this warp speed. Warp speed essentially distorted the fabric of spacetime, allowing the crew to travel superluminally, or faster than the speed of light.

‘Back to the Future’

This classic 80s film features the creation of the DeLorean, a time travel machine.

‘Contact’

This film features a lot of fictional science and inaccuracies. It was praised for its realistic depiction of the search for extraterrestrial life.

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