Pond Hockey Tournament raises $50,035 for Jablonski February 1, 2012 at 7:58 pm
Students and teachers swap outfits for Catholic Schools Week February 1, 2012 at 7:58 am
Catholic Schools Week kicks off with pjs and honors February 1, 2012 at 7:58 am
One Act play takes second place at sub-sections February 1, 2012 at 7:57 am
Youth In Goverment members lobby for government changes February 1, 2012 at 7:56 am
American Literature teacher Ms. Anne Marie Dominguez teaches The Great Gatsby to her students in the newly developed class, American Studies, alongside U.S. History teacher Ms. Megan Kern. (Chris Bell)
February 3, 2012
Nicole Sarquis, Staff Writer
History teachers tend to ramble off unrelatable facts about flappers, bootlegging, and the ease of life in the “Roaring 20s” during a typical U.S. History class, leaving their students with no real understanding of the subject. At the same time, English teachers’ enthusiasm over F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby” can only be understood... Continue Reading
February 6, 2012
Matt Muenzberg, Sports Editor
“We need our Kyle Rau,” said boys’ hockey head coach Mr. Ken Pauly, referencing the former Eden Prairie Eagle who not only led the team in scoring on their way to last year’s state championship, but also consistently showed up when his team needed a goal. BSM’s Kyle Rau is junior forward Grant Besse, who has been on a roll lately, averaging over 2.8 goals a game in his last seven games. He twice found the back of the net and added an assist in a 4-3 win over section rival Wayzata on Monday, Feb. 6. With section seeding on the line, there was a playoff-like atmosphere at the packed Plymouth Ice Center. “I loved it,” said Besse. “I thrive on that stuff.” Head-to-head match-ups... Continue Reading
Junior Shannon Galvin rehearses for the upcoming Les Miserables performance wither her fellow cast members. (Giulia Imholte)
January 27, 2012
Emily Kline, Staff Writer
Blue Water Theatre Company, one of the Twin Cities’ top performing arts groups for youth, is taking on “Les Misérables,” one of musical theatre’s most famous works, for their winter production. Juniors Rachel Hogen and Shannon Galvin, along with sophomore Rachel Wallace, joined the cast in late November and are currently in rehearsals for the... Continue Reading
February 1, 2012
Nick Hillson, Staff Writer
The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) is a bill running through Congress in an attempt to curb the illegal uploading and downloading of copyrighted information and programs. Unfortunately, due to extremely vague wording and unclear definitions, the censorship proposed could extend to websites such as Facebook, various e-mails, and any other free forum. Not only is SOPA ineffective for all but the technologically impaired, but it violates our rights and benefits only a small handful of elites. SOPA works by requiring websites and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to search through sent information and to censor any infringing material. Not only does this ignore the privacy guaranteed in the Constitution... Continue Reading
The Mock Trial team had a succesful season at several competitions due to immense practice and help from professional lawyers. (Photo courtesy of Jim Vogl)
February 3, 2012
Mallory Hoch, Staff Writer
Beginning in October, the Mock Trial team has practiced every night from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. in room 121 in preparation for upcoming competitions. Coming to a close on January 31st, the season ended on a strong note, making it to subsections before loosing their last competition. The season commenced with general practices to help initiate new members.... Continue Reading
| Sport | Date | Opponent | Result | W/L | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Girls Hockey | Sat, Feb 04 | Totino-Grace | 9-0 | Read Story | W |
| Boys Hockey | Sat, Feb 04 | Spring Lake Park | 15-0 | W | |
| Wrestling | Sat, Feb 04 | TBA | 9th Place | ||
| Girls Basketball | Fri, Feb 03 | Spring Lake Park | 57-39 | W | |
| Boys Basketball | Fri, Feb 03 | Spring Lake Park | 67-65 | Read Story | W |
| Girls Hockey | Thu, Feb 02 | Spring Lake Park | 6-0 | Read Story | W |
| Wrestling | Thu, Feb 02 | Dassel-Cokato | 21-58 | L | |
| Girls Basketball | Tue, Jan 31 | Minneapolis Southwest | 70-38 | W | |
| Boys Hockey | Tue, Jan 31 | Jefferson | 7-1 | Read Story | W |
| Girls Hockey | Sat, Jan 28 | Hill-Murray | 1-3 | Read Story | L |
| Boys Basketball | Sat, Jan 28 | North Branch | 82-21 | Read Story | W |
| Girls Basketball | Sat, Jan 28 | North Branch | 66-40 | Read Story | W |
| Sport | Date | Time | Opponent | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boys Hockey | Wed, Feb 08 | 7:30 | Shattuck-St. Mary's | Shattuck-St. Mary's |
| Girls Basketball | Fri, Feb 10 | 7:15 | St. Louis Park | St. Louis Park |
| Wrestling | Fri, Feb 10 | 6:00 | Chisago Lakes | Home |
| Boys Hockey | Sat, Feb 11 | 2:30 | Totino-Grace | St. Louis Park |
| Dance Team | Sat, Feb 11 | 1:00 | Sections | Austin |
| Boys Hockey | Tue, Feb 14 | 7:00 | Chisago Lakes | Chisago Lakes |
| Girls Basketball | Tue, Feb 14 | 7:15 | Columbia Heights | Home |
| Girls Basketball | Thu, Feb 16 | 7:15 | Waconia | Home |
| Girls Basketball | Fri, Feb 17 | 7:15 | Irondale | Home |
| Boys Hockey | Sat, Feb 18 | 2:30 | Stillwater | St. Louis Park |
| Wrestling | Sat, Feb 18 | 8:00 | Section Opponents | Totino-Grace |
| Girls Basketball | Tue, Feb 21 | 7:15 | St. Francis | Home |
Bernardo Vigil
March 1, 2010
Filed under Features
The most important pop-culture phenomenon since Shakespeare is Harry Potter. Period. No Arguments. No single media entity has had the cross-demographic appeal that Harry Potter has had; even The Beatles were hated by parents during the height of their popularity. That being said, the multi-national sensation that has dominated the world for the past ten years is swiftly dying out.
Of 31 upperclassmen polled, 24 said that they have read all seven books at least once; several said that they had read them all multiple times. Sharply contrasting this statistic were the freshmen, of which only two of the 21 polled said that they had read all seven; three others said that they had read one or two of the books.
For all of us who have trouble with fractions, the numbers above translate to this: 77 percent of juniors and seniors polled have read all seven books and only about 9.5 percent of freshman have. To properly understand the gravity of these percentages, however, one must first realize how extensive the fanaticism of some older Harry Potter fans is.
Long time Harry Potter fan, junior Alexander Smith, attended the midnight unveiling of the last three books. As if that was not enough to prove his loyalty to Harry, Smith reread all of the books that were published at the time of the unveilings in order to freshen up on his Harry Potter. This means that at the very least, Smith has read books one through four at least four times, the fifth book thrice, book number six twice and the seventh book at least once. That is at the very minimum 11,900 pages of Harry Potter.
The fandom does not stop at the books however. Seniors Kelsey Myhre and Brittni Palkert both own the soundtracks to the unauthorized play “A Very Potter Musical.” Myhre even subscribes to a weekly Harry Potter podcast or “mugglecast.” Junior Nick Brinza knows of more than one Harry Potter tribute band including “Draco and the Malfoys” and “Harry and the Potters.” Elin Lantz, one of last year’s graduates, even joined a Harry Potter club at Hamilton College.
Almost all of the fans, including both of the freshmen, seemed to give the the same reasons for liking the series: Harry Potter is just imaginative enough to take readers to another world, but the characters are real enough to keep people grounded and allows them to relate. Harry Potter provided the perfect escape for anybody who entered its pages.
Freshmen on the other hand, seemed to hold none of the reverence for the series that the juniors and seniors did. Freshman Max Holly simply stated, “That book is too long.” Freshman Alex Rios also summed up what many freshman failed to articulate quite as clearly, “it’s just not that important.” Both statements were widely regarded as borderline blasphemous by the upperclassmen asked to comment on them.
How is it that a media franchise that can, according to Mr. Jere Lantz, be compared to “nothing in history,” be so quickly losing its audience? Alex Plouff blamed the underclassmen’s lack of reading on the fact that “the freshmen are always somewhat awkward and out of the loop.” Although an interesting theory, this is probably not the case.
The few freshmen polled who had read any of the books at all, had older siblings who turned them on to the novels. The ones that had read all seven also seemed unaware that their classmates had not read the novels, but were appalled when they were informed.
It seems that Harry Potter is not losing its appeal, its time has just passed. This year’s batch of freshmen were just born a little bit to late to catch the literary portion of the Harry Potter wave and most of them don’t have older siblings to drag them onto it. Besides, why would anyone read a series of books that they didn’t grow up with, when they can just watch the series of mediocre movies that they did grow up with instead?
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