Redmen Ready to Rumble; Girls Rugby

By Lindsay K.

Every spring, Western Canada High School (WCHS) assembles many different teams to compete under the redmen name. WCHS is known as one of the top athletically inclined high schools in Calgary and surrounding areas. But what team should you really keep your eye on this season? Western Girls Rugby.

This year, we had over 60 girls try out for the team, and have been able to create a squad of 33 girls to challenge the opposition. These girls represent all three grades at WCHS, and will be competing in
division one again this year – along with St. Francis, Centennial, Churchill, Bishop Grandin, and Diefenbaker.

The start of spring sports at Western is an exciting time for the redmen community, as well as the student body and staff. The year seems to be moving by more quickly than ever as we surge into the
2013/2014-spring season, and the rugby girls are raring to go. This year’s squad competed in their first game last Wednesday and shut out St. Francis with 30 points, 6 different tries, and six different try scorers. If this is any indication of how their season is going to go – the other teams better watch their backs.

Not only do these girls already have a fantastic start to their season, but girls rugby at Western has won cities four out of the last six years, including their victory as city champions last year. Last year, the girls continued onto provincial championships and placed second overall. This year the goal is to take home not only the city championship, but the provincial championship as well. The western girls will prosper this season through incredible work ethic, extreme athleticism and good sportsmanship.

There is no doubt that we have a talented team, but what really makes this team so special to be a part of? The close-knit, passionate atmosphere. When asked to comment on what being on WCHS rugby was like, grade twelve veteran Delaney Schofer said “I'm basically in it for the team breakfasts. Just kidding. Seriously though, we have a great group of hard-working, athletic girls that I have no doubt will win us City Championships again this year.” As you can see, these hard working athletes know how to have a great time, while getting the job done!

The team is comprised of a pretty equal ratio of rookies to veterans, which is a strategic play, by coaches Claire McCann, Shauna Zwicker, and Ryan Quaife. The equal ratio is designed to ensure that
each year we are able to carry girls forward, and continue success, while our veterans graduate.

Here is to another fantastic season of western girls rugby, another fantastic coaching staff and another great team of redmen athletes.

*Western plays a game next Thursday against Bishop Grandin. Come out and support your redmen, Western!

Easter

By: Eleanor G.

Easter came this past weekend. I went out on Saturday with a friend and the streets were spotted with grown men wearing bright pink bunny costumes and parents bustling around trying to find enough chocolate to buy. The most common traditions, here in Calgary, are egg hunts and mass. But they do seem to vary from family to family.

Of course, there are families who do not celebrate at all; it’s just another Sunday to them. But, like Christmas, nonreligious families celebrate it too, making it a popular holiday, commercialised for all your Easter needs. For those families who are Christian, the celebration begins with Good Friday, the end of Lent. The idea of Lent is to give up something you love from Ash Wednesday, this that was March 5th, until Good Friday. It’s kind of like a belated New Years Resolution, or at least that’s how my dad explained it to me when I was young. On Easter Sunday, also known as Resurrection Sunday, people file into Church to listen to a preacher. Easter Sunday and Christmas morning are two holidays where many people go to church when they usually do not. There were many jokes this year about parking at churches on Sunday and regular churchgoers not recognizing the people there.

The other main way to celebrate Easter is done by the less religious families as well: egg hunts. Traditionally, families decorate hard-boiled eggs the day before and that night the “Easter Bunny” hides them. This varies a lot as well. Some people hide them in their backyards, others do it with other families in a park, some hide them in their houses and the last group, which I am in, don’t hide hard-boiled eggs at all. A growing new tradition began where families hide chocolate eggs covered in brightly coloured tinfoil. I’ve always taken part in this; my mother would go out a week before and buy me and my sister a chocolate bunny and 25 chocolate eggs from Bernard Callebaut or Purdy’s. Even with my sister in university, she sent her some a few days early. The other families who do hide eggs sometimes assign them monetary values or use plastic eggs and hide toys inside.

Whichever way you do it, the children always get something.

Stampede Work Experience with the Calgary Boys and Girls Club

By: Jason Z.

Work experience is hard to come by these days, and with the summer fast approaching and the school year ending, the Calgary Stampede is a great opportunity to take advantage for accumulating this invaluable wealth called work experience.

The work experience program is a partnership between the Boys and Girls Club of Calgary and the Calgary Stampede. Offering a chance for youth to practice and refine their skills in application writing, job interview, punctuality, and customer service. The work experience program does pay handsomely for a six-hour part time job, and offers an range of positions as well as shifts for you to pick. Sounds all too good to be true? Well, getting accepted isn’t exactly a stroll through the park, there are thousands of youths applying each year and only a small fraction of that number will be the lucky few that gets to wear a uniform under the scorching hot sun. Speaking of the sun, even though the program did its best to accommodate the youth’s schedules by allowing the freedom to pick and choose between AM and PM shift, the unforgiving sun on a hot summer day and the requirement to wear jeans make the jobs a sweat fest, so make sure to hydrate!

The information meeting is already over and done with, first priority is given to the youths who did attend, but interviews are not guaranteed (which means you still have a chance!). The deadline is April 22, 2014, but don’t count on it because the selection for the workers may have already been completed before the deadline. Make sure you submit a resume along with your application (don’t make the mistake I made a few years back) to the nearest Boys and Girls Club near you, application download and FAQ is here,

I wish you the best of luck in your endeavours. Hopefully this experience will be of help in the near future when you apply for a full time job.

Everything and Nothing

Drama Spring Production Premieres April 15th

 

By: Molly D.

If you are not familiar with the wonderful work of Western Canada’s Drama department, here is your chance to experience the upcoming spring production, Everything and Nothing. Every year, the Drama department performs two productions, and their rendition of Macbeth drew hundreds of students to the theater this last fall. Western Canada’s drama program is a nationally recognized theater program, and is the pinnacle of our fine arts programs. The Drama department has a history of creating quality theater pieces, and it would be a shame not to view one of their productions.

 This year’s spring production is not only is an interesting addition to all the exceptional work that the drama department has created, but a piece that students at Western Canada High School will find relatable. Everything and Nothing follows a number of high school students from an unnamed school during their after-grad celebration. The play tackles some difficult subjects, such as substance abuse, identity issues and mental disorders. The production takes a serious look at some of the struggles that everyday students aren’t comfortable talking about. Often we see these issues make appearances in TV dramas and in movies, but seeing the struggles that everyone faces on a smaller scale erases the stigma of these subjects from our minds.

When a topic is blown up as it is in movies and television, when the identity of a character revolves around their bulimia or addiction, we forget that they are more than their disorder. Many students struggle with eating disorders, mental disorders, bullying and substance abuse, but we so often group them as ‘the girl with anorexia,’ or the ‘boy with depression,’ that we forget about the person dealing with the disorder and instead focus on their disorder instead of them.

 In Everything and Nothing we see characters that parallel ourselves, and reflect our growth through our years at high school. No one leaves high school the same as when they first started, and with the diverse Drama 30 cast, there’s a relatable character for every student.

Our talented Drama students have put incredible time and effort into this year’s spring production, and for many of them, this will be the last high school production before they graduate themselves. Almost every actor performing in Everything and Nothing has worked hard for the last three years to better themselves as an actor and perfect theater, and nothing will showcase their growth and talent like this production.

The play’s matinee is on April 15th, and then will be performed at 7:30pm April 15th, 16th, and 17th. If you haven’t already purchased your tickets, they can be purchased at lunch by the theater or at the event for 10$ a seat. The Drama department is excited to perform, and hopes to see the students of Western Canada interested in their local arts programs. All their hard work will be open for every student to watch, and if you have any additional questions, please inquire at the Theater about Everything and Nothing.

Stampede’s Warrior

By:Ben U.

The Calgary Stampede, an annual tradition of Calgary’s that is always the highlight of the year. Hundreds of people come to enjoy the festivities of the Stampede, but the stampede isn’t always just for the weird food and fun rides. For many it’s the time of year for one of the biggest rodeos on the circuit. Whether you’re watching the rodeo or taking part of it, the Stampede Rodeo is one of the greatest rodeos in the world.

Not only is the Stampede’s rodeo one of the most popular rodeos in the world, but it also holds some of the greatest stock around the world. Such as Grated Coconut, the six-time world champion bareback horse, and though he may be retired from the ring, Grated Coconut still holds the title as the greatest bucking horse to ever live.

Now, however, his legacy will continue to live on in Stampede Warrior, one of his fillies he has sired.

Stampede Warrior is predicted to be named the World Bareback Champion Horse for 2013. Said to be quiet and calm in the chutes, she explodes into action when the shoot opens. This isn’t hard to believe, Stampede Warrior has already made a 94 point ride in Houston, breaking its record of a 91 with bareback rider Cody DeMoss. A score so high it nearly became the highest scored ride ever made. However, that title still belongs to her sire, Grated Coconut, for scoring a 95 point ride with Davey Shield Jr. during the Calgary Stampede Rodeo in 2005.

Bucking hard and strong, Stampede Warrior is said to make more great performances as the year continues, and hopefully we will see this bucking mare continue, or even surpass, her father’s legacy in the Stampede Rodeo this year.

Frozen Review

By: Chimedum O. 

Frozen, one of the latest films in Disney’s animated canon, has received rave reviews and myriad awards. The obvious questions are why and how, but that will be touched on shortly.

Frozen in and off itself is, at first glance, a cute movie if not mind-blowing. It opens with a song in the traditional Disney way, then introduces the characters and gives some inklings of the conflict: Queen Elsa versus herself and Princess Anna versus Elsa, who is also her sister. The side characters, two of which are love interests, two of which are non-human comic relief characters, and one of which is a secondary antagonist, are interesting enough, and the trying-to-be-revolutionary themes introduced are well-intentioned if poorly executed and heavy-handed.

Wherein lies the problem. Many have said that Disney’s Frozen is so very feminist because of how it focuses on the sisterly bond between Elsa and Anna rather than romance. The subversion of the ‘love at first sight’ as well as the ‘true love’s kiss saves all’ trope adds to this opinion that Frozen is oh-so-progressive and an inspiration to girls everywhere.

But it isn’t; the thin veneer of feminism hides obvious flaws. The aforementioned ‘sisterly bonding’ only takes up a small part of the movie, because the majority of Frozen isn’t Elsa and Anna bonding – in fact, many of their interactions are Elsa pushing Anna away – it’s Anna and Kristoff. The subversion of the ‘love at first sight’ trope is subverted itself! Anna still ends up with a boyfriend, if not a husband, after knowing the guy in question for two days as opposed to a few hours. Considering that the movie spends so much time hammering the ‘you cannot marry someone you just met’ message into Anna’s and the viewers’ heads, it’s an odd conclusion to reach.

Also, most of the characters, even the minor ones, are male. We’ve got two female characters: Elsa and Anna, three if you count their unnamed mother and four if you count the female troll, Bulda. The males in the movie – Hans, Kristoff, the Duke of Weselton, Olaf, Oaken, Sven, the troll king Cliff, and the unnamed father of Elsa and Anna – vastly outnumber them. The real world is roughly fifty percent female; why isn’t this statistic reflected in such a ‘feminist’ movie?

Aside from the faux-feminism, the character designs for Anna, Elsa, and their mother are ridiculously lazy. Pre-makeover (“Let it Go”) Elsa is essentially a blond version of her mother. Anna and Elsa are strangely similar to each other in appearance, even if they are siblings; they also look uncannily similar to Tangled’s Rapunzel. The big-eyed-and-button-nosed white princess formula has worked again. It is likely that Disney will stick to this instead of branching into more diversity – not just of facial structure and features, but of race/ethnicity, having one token minority princess (so far non-white princesses include Mulan, Tiana, Jasmine, and Pocahontas) for every two white princesses if at all. Although Frozen is based off a Danish fairytale (“The Snow Queen” by Hans Christian Andersen), if Disney is able to make talking snowmen and cyrokinetics possible in Frozen, having people of colour as main characters couldn’t possibly be so far-fetched, now could it?

Overall, Frozen isn’t bad; the storyline is all right, some of the songs are wonderful, the plot twist is surprising, and the animation is gorgeous despite the lazy, generically-pretty designs of the princesses. But although it’s not bad, Frozen is extremely problematic – in both the disparity between its message and the presentation of said message, and the lack of people of colour that has become a staple of not just Disney (unfortunately) but most media.

2.5 /5 Stars.