Maple Valley-Anthon Oto's - Maple Valley Community Schools

By Nate Sadler
Opinion
Every year around April or so, a social
gathering of epic proportions occurs: prom.
It’s a legend among secondary education
schools everywhere. Many strive their
whole high school career for this moment in
time. The perfect night; there’s the perfect
hair, perfect clothes, perfect people, and
perfect food. What could be wrong with
this seemingly blissful night? Plenty, as
many have taken the fine idea of prom and
turned it into something that’s more trouble
than its worth.
Let’s start with one question: what is the
price of perfection? As all women know,
prom doesn’t come cheap. Girls can
easily spend over two hundred dollars
on the dress alone, and that’s just the
beginning. When adding in the costs of
hair, nails, shoes, accessories, and tanning,
the amounts can be overwhelming. And,
how much time does it take to gather these
things? Sometimes, matters of months.
Prom is being made into a year-long event,
all for one night. But according to some,
the end, a “perfect” prom night, will justify
the means. Men don’t have it as bad when
it comes to time or money spent for prom,
and yet, it still is excessive.
The clothes alone are a bit much, but
that’s not even scratching the surface.
There has to be flowers, corsages and
boutonnieres, fancy rides, extravagant
dinners, all trying to one-up last year and
the next person’s offerings. If the fancy
threads didn’t dry up your wallet, these
accessories just might.
Some may argue that money isn’t really
an issue. That splurging every now and
Page 6, The Ram Write-Up, Maple Valley Anthon- Oto Schools
then can be fun and that there’s nothing
wrong with that. I would agree with
that. However, prom does more than just
empty its attendee’s pocketbooks. There
is the ever-present issue of finding a date.
This, of course, always must follow a strict
social order. A person’s date always must
better looking and more expensive than the
next guy’s/gal’s, or he/she risks “social
embarrassment.” All that does is create
drama, which is the power source that fuels
even more of this obsessive behavior. And
forbid it that you go without a date… that
would just be horrible.
Ask anyone who is a high school
graduate, “Is prom that big of a deal?” I
would bet that all of them would say,
“no.” Nobody will remember who had
the best date, the best dress, or the fanciest
ride. All that money, time, and obsessing
over something that, surprisingly enough,
doesn’t have the fate of the world in its
balance.
Do I like prom? Sure I do. I come down
hard on it, and sound awfully pessimistic.
The truth is, I think prom is just fine.
There’s nothing wrong with having fun
and dressing up for a night. I’m looking
forward to it. However, it has been taken
too far-- not just at MVAO, but across the
nation as well. America, in general, is a
wasteful nation, and our proms prove
this. The fun of prom has been sucked
away mostly because all the “necessities”
that have been created for it. I think prom
needs a serious reality check, and a little
grounding. That can only make a more
enjoyable experience for all.
New dugouts being built
for baseball players
The framing of the dugouts standing in the old shop in
the yellow building.
By Jesse Nielsen
The students from the Construction Tech
class are building new dugouts for the
baseball field to match the new concession
stand. “The whole field is getting an update,”
said Coach Ocker. The old fencing on the
front of the dugouts was becoming a safety
concern.
The unique thing about the new dugouts
is they are entirely student built and mostly
student designed, with input from the
coaches, players, and Mr. Miller.
Movie review: Hannibal Rising
By Jeff Koithan
This is a story about a man who once was
a human, but ended up a monster.
Hannibal Lector is a famous character from
novels written by Thomas Harris. The books
were later turned into great films. They are
Silence of the lambs, Hannibal, Red Dragon,
and of course, Hannibal Rising.
This film is a prequel to all the others
stories. It shows how Hannibal becomes who
he is in the later films.
The movie begins with an invasion on the
Lector home. This is during the time of WWII.
Hannibal and his family retreat from his
home to a safe house, but then, all of sudden,
they realize, that they were followed by the
Nazis. When the Nazis attack the house, and
take hold of the parents, something terrible
happens to both Hannibal and his sister.
This scene is the key that changes young
Hannibal’s mind from love to hate.
The story continues with an older Hannibal
trying to find his place in the world, and
he soon discovers his fascinations with the
human body. He soon begins to take revenge
on his family’s killers, and the movie also
shows how he starts to enjoy cannibalism.
Anthony Hopkins was, of course, the
famous actor who played Hannibal’s roles
later in different periods in his life, but actor
Gaspard Ulliel, Hannibal in Hannibal Rising,
most defidently does a great job showing how
Hannibal becomes the cannibalistic killer.
This is not exactly a horror movie, but
the story unravels at a very good pace, and
the suspense will keep people at the edge of
their seat.
I give the movie four out of four Ram
Heads.
The ideas for the dugouts have come from
T.V. and other schools. The dugouts will be a
combination of the best ideas, making them
the best around.
The construction class is making them in
two pieces and then moving them down to
the field to be assembled. The pieces are being
assembled in the old shop. As of February 21,
the visitors dugout is completely framed and
ready to be sheeted.