Thoughts Students Have in Homeroom

Written by: Lauren Groff

Half-asleep and groggy, we trudge into school five days a week to repeat the very same cycle. Before our day begins, we often have some time to think prior to first period, and often, we share many of our thoughts. Here are ten thoughts you all have in homeroom.

1. Is it Bagel Wednesday?

2. What day is it? Do I have lab today?

3. Shoot! I was supposed to print that!

4. ...When can I print it?

5. Will my gym teacher notice if I keep my leggings on for gym?

6. Do converse count as gym sneakers?

7. I should have turned off Netflix and just gone to bed last night.

8. How many calories are there in a chocolate muffin?

9. Whatever. I'm getting a muffin.

10. It was due at 11:59PM?!?!

We're almost positive that you can relate to at least one of these… we sure can! Thanks for reading, Spartans!

March Madness is Underway in S.H.S.

From March 16th to April 3rd, the national event of March Madness will have people cheering and tearing up their brackets.

March Madness is the nickname of the national college men’s basketball tournament, where 68 college teams compete in a single elimination competition. While that’s nice and all, the real fun comes from the March Madness Pools, or “Brackets,” that people make. Brackets are predictions people make regarding the outcome of each game, and the aim of the game is to guess as many games as possible.

While it all seems rather simple, the chances of getting a “perfect bracket,” or predicting the outcome of every game, comes out to almost 1 in 9 quintillion. It’s a goal so impossible, that billionaire Warren Buffett said that if anyone was to achieve a perfect bracket, he would personally send them a million dollars.

The idea of how improbable it is to gain a “perfect bracket” doesn't faze students at Sparta High School though, who have begun to use up every second of their free time to check in on which games are going on and who is winning. I was in the media center and found two groups of students watching different games on the M.R.C. computers, so I decided to ask one of the groups why they love to go mad for March Madness.

Danny Smith and Richie McDonald were more than willing to answer that question, with Danny stating, “I’m a big basketball fan and it’s a great competition.” When he was asked who he thought would win the tournament, he rooted for U.N.C., “All the way.”

Richie commented, “I just like the sport of basketball, it’s the most fun to watch.” He went on to say that, “Probably one of the most fun things is to make a bracket.” When asked who he though will win, his answer was the same as Danny’s, U.N.C.

As the day progressed, I found that more and more people were watching certain basketball games and checking player stats. In fact, after filming “The Sparta Scoop,” the broadcasting team and I were allowed to watch some games while doing our work. While I personally don’t watch many basketball games, I find it thrilling, as many others do, to see who will come out on top as the best college basketball team in the country.

Beauty and the Beast: A Fresh, New Walk Down Memory Lane

Written by: Kanita Tariq

I’ll say it right now - I am a Disney princess enthusiast. No matter how questionable some of their stories may be, when someone asks me what my favorite Disney movie is, I cannot answer with just one. However, I do find myself relating to Belle more than any other princess for many, many reasons. We’re both major bookworms, we both want to travel the world, and we both feel like we just haven’t found our place yet. That being said, when I discovered that Disney was making a live-action version of Beauty and the Beast and that my all-time favorite actress Emma Watson was going to star as the lead, obviously, I was excited. This is what I wanted so badly, and I knew it could go two ways - as wonderful as I would expect, or horribly, horribly wrong.

This entire experience was one that I had never experienced before. I was prepping for this film for months, watching interviews and every teaser, reading every update, and listening to the soundtrack as soon as it was released. Was I just a bit crazy? Perhaps. If you know me, then you know that I take everything I love to the next level. My expectations were high!

Emma Watson was a perfect choice for Belle. She was just as I imagined and more, and her acting was very convincing. Her singing voice definitely did not beat the amazing Paige O’Hara from the original, but wasn’t as terrible as critics were implying. Her acting fell flat a few times, especially when interacting with the animated characters (“Be Our Guest” must not have been fun for her), but she otherwise did incredible. Dan Stevens was an amazing Beast and Prince, and the level of character development he managed to display was excellent. Luke Evans brought everyone’s favorite villain to life, but much less one-dimensional. His acting and singing abilities did not disappoint, and he was very enjoyable to watch. Josh Gad seems like the funniest, sweetest person, and the complexity he had given his character, whom he had very little basis on, was very impressive. Shoutouts to the wonderful voice actors, like Gugu Mbatha-Raw (Plumette), Audra McDonald (Madame Garderobe), Emma Thompson (Mrs. Potts), the legendary Sir Ian Mckellen (Cogsworth), and Ewan McGregor, bringing my favorite character, Lumiere, to life.  

The sets were, as far as my investigation had gone, almost entirely practical. The castle was lavish and majestic, giving me major Hogwarts vibes. Many critics complained about the CGI on Beast’s appearance. I disagree, having loved the sensitivity of his face and the emotions you can clearly see in him. In that respect, Dan Stevens did a wonderful job. However, the animation of the household objects was very intricate and realistic, unlike the simplicity of the original. While this change is understandable, it is difficult to sympathize with them simply because of their design.

Many of our unanswered questions are addressed in the film. What happened to Belle’s mother? Where is Beast’s family? Why is Gaston so admired in the village? Where is Mr. Potts? And most importantly, how are the villagers unaware of their former Prince and his many servants? Each of these plot holes and more are sealed with detail in the film. Most of my favorite scenes were when Beast and Belle became friends and how easily their relationship was panned out for us to see. It was quite a grand production and it never felt like there were too many subplots. However, this left the iconic waltz sequence at the center of the film quite underwhelming, certainly not like the showpiece of the musical.

The music was catchy and almost completely true to the original, and some new additions were fresh and completed the soundtrack perfectly. I found myself singing along to “Be Our Guest” and a new tune, “Evermore.”

This Beauty and the Beast has the opportunity to resonate in our hearts today, a contemporary remake of arguably, the first modern Disney princess. As I walked out of the theater with tears streaming down my face, I felt a new appreciation for Belle, and a new connection formed between us that makes her even more special to me than before.

THE ORACLE'S SPRINGTIME PLAYLIST!

Fool yourself into thinking it is spring and distract yourself from the heated truth of climate change with this poppy, bright eyed, and year old playlist.

Heart Out- The 1975

Golden Days- Panic! At The Disco

Made in Hollywood- LANY

UGH!- The 1975

If I Go- Ella Eyre

Treasure- LEON

Drive- Oh Wonder

Open Season- High Highs

L.A.F- Broods

Feels- Kiiara
Issues - Julia Michaels

Paris- Magic Man

The MuslimGirl Who Breaks The Stigma

In a time where ignorance is not bliss, there are outlets to help break the stigma in the most oblivious. In this time of xenophobia, take a look at the people who are truthful representations to break the negative stereotypes. A good place to start? New Jersey native Amani Al-Khatahtbeh, a young author, fashion guru and online tech entrepreneur is a prime example of that. And if you couldn’t tell already, she’s a young Muslim woman.

At the time of the 9/11 attacks, Amani was a nine year old girl. Despite the looks from her peers, Amani entered puberty and decided to wear the hijab. The Islamic teachings state that once a child enters puberty, he/she is responsible to begin following their religion more closely (for example, once they enter puberty, they are permitted to begin fasting during the holy month of Ramadan).

Islam preaches modesty, but women are not specifically required to wear a hijab. A woman who does not wear a hijab is just as much of a Muslim as those who do. Kudos to the brave and amazing sisters that do. For any young Muslim girl, Amani agreed, it was a tough decision and can sometimes lead to a sense of isolation.

Reality check: Al-Qaeda are pretty crappy people. Islam is such a peaceful religion. The acts of terror that are being taken out are in no way a representation of Muslim people around the world. Muslims are being misrepresented and as a result are disgustingly mistreated in our society today. Amani had the ambition and dream to change the extreme level of Islamophobia while she was in high school in 2009, when she created her blog muslimgirl.com, which has now transformed into an online community for Muslim girls all around.

The blog began as just that - a blog for Amani and her friends to express their feelings. They hoped the blog would push the boundaries and change how society viewed the real message of Islam and showcased the young woman exactly as what they are - beautiful, powerful, and educated American women who were about to make their mark. Since its debut, the blog has transformed widely into something that is much more than just an average blog. Amani serves as the founder and editor-in-chief and she now has 50 amazing writers who, thanks to its success from investors in recent months, she can now pay for delivering their stories, tips, and opinions on anything from the perspective of a Muslim woman. They range from beauty tips to sexuality and often include taboo topics that need to be spoken about in the Islamic community, but was nearly impossible to find discussion on before MuslimGirl came into expression. They are issues that are extremely real and should be addressed; for the young girls who don’t necessarily have the outlets to speak about these issues, MuslimGirl is there for them. The blog truly flourished in 2015 when they expanded their volunteer staff (who, as previously mentioned, are now paid for their labor of love!) and were able to transform it into a true publication that has taken flight to something much more than Amani ever imagined back in 2009. It is stressed that MuslimGirl’s audience is not just for followers of Islam, but for everyone. I encourage all of you to check out the website - it’s a wonderful place to get education on Islam and in general, a great blog to follow. All the editors and writers publish wonderful content that goes beyond typical journalism and reporting. Read it, I promise you’ll enjoy yourself and you’ll realize, they’re real people after all - just like all of the Millennials who have been growing up in this era.

Amani is now a 23 year old graduate of Rutgers University. In October 2016, she published her memoir Muslim Girl to change the typical market and give young Muslim girls something to relate, laugh and even cry to. With her success, she made it onto Forbes 30 Under 30 list. She has attended radio and news segments in the past two years, sitting next to many notable names while making a name for herself and when she isn’t busy with her own blog, even writes

columns for The Huffington Post, Teen Vogue, and Forbes. Amani is most definitely making history by creating the first common media network written by a Muslim woman, for Muslim and non-Muslim women alike. It holds as a sustainable source of female empowerment in a time when we need it the most during this absurd time of discrimination. She isn’t different, and that’s what we’re trying to relay. Hopefully you’ve paused reading this article to go over to MuslimGirl and have noticed, the blog is pink, she attends BeautyCon and uploads her selfies with Kim Kardashian. Amani shows us that being a Muslim feminist who is fabulous and fierce is beyond epic.

A Day Without Women: What Would It Actually Be Like?

Written by: Kanita Tariq 

On March 8, International Women’s Day, a strike known as “A Day Without A Woman” was organized. Women were encouraged to take the day off from paid or unpaid labor, shop from only small minority-owned businesses, and wear the color red to show their support. The purpose was to highlight the economic importance of women in the fight for equality.

While we probably won’t ever be able to understand what a day without women would actually be like on a large scale, we can assume how different our lives would be. So what would a day without women entail?

• First of all, women make up about 47% of workforce in the United States. Nearly half of all workers would no longer do their jobs.

• More than 75% of public school teachers are females. I’d take the day off, if I were you.

• College classes would be considerably empty. 55% of undergraduates are women.

• Despite progress in male participation of household chores, it’s no secret that most women take care of the cooking, cleaning, and grocery shopping. A day without women? You might want to order take out.

• Got to do your taxes? Better wait. 65% of tax preparers are women.

• That doctor’s appointment? Too bad, 78% of physicians and surgeons are women, and so are 55% of pharmacists.

• What better way to engage in the slow day than to watch the news? Oh wait, that might be a little hard. Women make up 58% of journalists and media workers.

A day without women, huh? Seems pretty lousy to me.

Stats were collected from Census data and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Pi Day...Yummy!

Written by: Will Nichols 

On March 14th, rapidly stuff your face with a creamy, mouthwatering coconut cream pie or a classic jaw dropping apple pie, homemade to get such a sensation of an everlasting taste. After all this time of working hard, March 14th seems like the perfect day to treat yourself to some pie.

My apologies, wrong pie! March 14th is the day you’ll be able to stuff your face with the cheese and juicy pizza pie from the pizza places of your choice for an unforgettable meal only for only $8.99, or you can make it homemade, or get it straight up from Italy. I suggest some Sicilian pizza.

No no no Will, that’s the wrong pie as well. It’s not Pie, It’s Pi. Huh? You know 3.14159265358979323846264338327950288419716939937510? Remember Pi Day in 5th grade? Whoever recited the most digits of Pi won prizes, like two AMC tickets. Oh, yeah! Now that you enjoyed my cheesiness I am going to press onward. Pi or π is used for a radius or diameter as well as determining the circumference. The ancient Babylonians calculated the area of a circle by taking 3 times the square of its radius. Pi is a constant number which means for all circles, Pi will be the same. The mathematician Archimedes used polygons with many sides to approximate circles and determined that Pi was approximately 22/7. The symbol (Greek letter “π”) was first used in 1706 by William Jones. A ‘p’ was chosen for perimeter of circles, and the use of π became popular after it was adopted by the Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler in 1737. In recent years, Pi has been calculated to over one trillion digits past its decimal. Only 39 digits past the decimal are needed to accurately calculate the spherical volume of our entire universe, but because of Pi’s infinite & patternless nature, it’s a fun challenge to memorize, and to computationally calculate more and more digits.”(Pi-day.org/Wikipedia) Pi is also used as a volume of a cylinder, however if you're not spending your time solving algebraic or geometrical  equations, you just want to eat pie not do π, whatever it is you're doing just remember you need pi to bake a pie, and you need to know to know the radius and diameter of a circle which includes π to be able to make your pie perfectly shaped.