The Phantom Voice
Menu
the Phantom voice
Welcome Back Bayport Blue Point! As the new school year unwinds, we'll be covering all of the top events/news. Stay tuned for new articles from our fabulous journalists!
Cover photo credit: Graceann Sulima
Ian Waldron On that fateful day in the Spring of 1977, a movie released like no other. A movie with space wizards, giant exploding space stations, and soldiers in white armor that can’t hit anything. The movie I’m talking about is Star Wars, the movie that captivated so many souls and carved a path for not just a trilogy, but 10 movies, with more well on their way. Star Wars: A New Hope as it was later called used the Death Star on the box office to make a whopping 775 million US dollars. At the time it was one of if not the most profitable movies of all time. With iconic characters such as Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher), Han Solo (Harrison Ford), Darth Vader (David Prowse), Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew), C-3PO (Anthony Daniels), R2D2 (Kenny Baker), and so many more, they were setting the stage for a trilogy of epic movies that would last generations. Set "a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away," Episode IV: A New Hope begins the adventures of Luke Skywalker, a lowly farm boy from the planet Tatooine who finds himself swept into an intergalactic civil war after encountering R2D2 and C3P0, two droids carrying secret plans for an engine of destruction known as the Death Star. Luke brings the droids to former Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi who unexpectedly leads the motley crew into the hands of the evil Empire via the starship of smuggler Han Solo and his Wookie sidekick, Chewbacca. The heroes rescue the captured Princess Leia and escape the Death Star just in time to lead a rebel assault against the space station and the vile Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith. Sure, A New Hope was a great movie, but it’s sequel was even better. In “The Empire Strikes Back”, the black-caped Darth Vader leads the might of the Galactic Empire to the newly found rebel base on the icy planet of Hoth aboard his new flagship, the mighty Super Star Destroyer “Executor”. The Imperial forces trample steam the rebel forces with their war machines called AT-AT’s and force them to use their ion cannon and escape. Unfortunately the heroes of the rebel alliance onboard the ship “Millenium Falcon” stayed to late and were nearly caught by the Empire. After a chase through an asteroid field the picture cuts to the swamp planet Dagobah where the farmboy Luke Skywalker traveled to become a Jedi.His old mentor Ben Kenobi told him to find Yoda, an elf-like creature that is very short. Speak oddly, he also does. While Luke is training to become a jedi, the crew of the Millenium Falcon sets a course to the tibanna gas refinery of Cloud City, on the gas giant Bespin. There, Solo meets up with his old friend and fellow smuggler Lando Calrissian, who also happened to feature in the relatively new movie Solo. Han and the crew wanted a place to lay low for a little while but Lando had other plans. As they all go to dinner, waiting at the head of the table is Darth Vader with the bounty hunter Boba Fett. Lando already made a deal with the Empire for safety if he turned these “criminals” in. Back on Dagobah, Luke gets ready to leave before his training is complete because he sensed that his friends were in danger, despite advice from both Ben and Yoda. Luke races to Cloud City in his X-Wing starfighter as Han gets put into Carbonite for easy travel to the crime lord Jabba the Hutt, supplied by Boba Fett. Luke eventually gets to Bespin as Fett’s ship Slave 1 leaves. After a confrontation with Vader, it is revealed to Luke and the audience that (spoiler alert!!!!!!) Darth Vader is his father. Because of this sudden revelation, Luke falls of the edge of a ledge and gets picked up by Leia and Chewie in the Millenium Falcon. Lando also tags along because he wants to find his friend Han. So the story continues. The next and final movie in the original trilogy, The Return of the Jedi, is probably the closest thing we get to a full scale war between the Rebel Alliance and the Galactic Empire. Luke Skywalker initiates a plan to rescue Han Solo from the crime lord Jabba the Hutt with the help of Princess Leia, Lando Calrissian, Chewbacca, C-3PO, and R2-D2. Leia infiltrates Jabba's palace on Tatooine, disguised as a bounty hunter, with Chewbacca as her prisoner. Leia releases Han from his carbonite prison, but she is captured and enslaved. Luke arrives soon afterward, but is also captured after a tense standoff. After Luke survives his battle with Jabba's Rancor, Jabba sentences him and Han to death by feeding them to the Sarlacc. Luke frees himself and battles Jabba's guards. During the chaos, Leia strangles Jabba to death, and Luke destroys Jabba's sail barge as the group escapes. While the others rendezvous with the Rebel Alliance, Luke returns to Dagobah where he finds that Yoda is dying. Before he dies, Yoda confirms that Darth Vader, once known as Anakin Skywalker, is Luke's father, and that there is "another Skywalker". The spirit of Obi-Wan Kenobi confirms that this other Skywalker is Leia, who is Luke's twin sister. Obi-Wan tells Luke that he must fight Vader again to defeat the Empire. The Rebel Alliance learns that the Empire has been constructing a new Death Star under the supervision of the Emperor himself. As the station is protected by an energy shield, Han leads a strike team to destroy the shield generator on the forest moon of Endor; doing so would allow a squadron of starfighters to destroy the Death Star. The strike team, accompanied by Luke and Leia, travels to Endor in a stolen Imperial shuttle. On Endor, Luke and his companions encounter a tribe of Ewoks and, after an initial conflict, gain their trust. Later, Luke tells Leia that she is his sister, Vader is their father, and that he must go and confront him. Surrendering to Imperial troops, Luke is brought to Vader and unsuccessfully tries to convince him to turn from the dark side of the Force. Vader takes Luke to the Death Star to meet the Emperor, intent on turning him to the dark side. The Emperor reveals that the Death Star is actually fully operational and the rebel fleet will fall into a trap. On Endor, Han's strike team is captured by Imperial forces, but a surprise counterattack by the Ewoks allows the rebels to battle the Imperials. Meanwhile, Lando leads the rebel fleet to the Death Star in the Millennium Falcon, only to find out that the shield is still active, and the Imperial fleet is waiting for them. The Emperor tempts Luke to give in to his anger, and Luke engages Vader in a lightsaber duel. Vader senses that Luke has a sister, and threatens to turn her to the dark side. Enraged, Luke attacks Vader and severs his prosthetic right hand. The Emperor entreats Luke to kill Vader and take his place, but Luke refuses, declaring himself a Jedi as his father had been. Furious, the Emperor tortures Luke with Force lightning. Unwilling to let his son die, Vader throws the Emperor down a reactor chute to his death, but Vader is mortally electrocuted in the process. At his last request, Luke removes the redeemed Anakin's mask before he dies peacefully in Luke's arms. As the battle between the Imperial and Alliance fleets continues, the strike team defeats the Imperial forces and destroys the shield generator, allowing the rebel fleet to launch their assault on the Death Star. Lando leads a group of rebel ships into the Death Star's core and destroys the main reactor. As Luke escapes on a shuttle with his father's body, the Falcon flies out of the Death Star's superstructure as the station explodes. On Endor, Leia reveals to Han that Luke is her brother, and they kiss. Luke returns to Endor and cremates Anakin's body on a pyre. As the rebels celebrate their victory over the Empire, Luke smiles as he sees the spirits of Obi-Wan, Yoda, and Anakin watching over them. The original trilogy is perhaps the greatest sci-fi trilogy to date. With giant space battles, evil villains, awesome heroes, and pretty much everything else, the Star Wars original trilogy will be remembered and cherished by all fans of the series for the rest of their natural lives. Katherine LaFountain One of the most popular brands of clothing for girls right now is California based brand Brandy Melville. This brand offers fun basic clothing that is california inspired, many celebrities from Maddie Ziegler to famous youtuber Emma Chamberlain wear their clothes, but here's the catch, the clothes only come in one size. If you don't fit into a size extra-small or small you won't be able to fit into the teeny tiny one size. The brand says the one size helps customers shop easier, and from my experience it does make shopping easier because I can go in and pick things up without looking at the size. They also claim that all of the clothes are stretchy and some of them are, but most aren't. The pants also come in only one size that is designed for long and skinny legs and that isn't realistic to think that most girls legs are not like that. They even discriminate against their employees. Instead of sales associates the employees are called “ in store models”. Whenever I walk into a brandy melville the employees look just like the models you see on their website and Instagram. All the models have to have long hair and fit into a size zero or they get fired. It is so sad to think that a brand can't be include everyone. If they create more sizes it will help their business, and the mental health well being of young girls who starve themselves just to fit in their clothes. It is in the best interest of Brandy melville and their customers to make more sizes. Skyler Fig In New York, we are privileged with beautiful beaches. Long Island, Fire Island, Long Beach, and Breezy Point are all amazing beaches that we are lucky to have. But, what many people may not know is that at every single one of the beaches previously listed dead whales washed up on the shore recently. All of these events that have occurred are extremely tragic. When any animal gets hurt or dies it is very sad. Not only is it sad when whales wash up, but it impacts the food chain tremendously. Since whales are a huge part of the food chain, when many of them die, the food chain gets affected dramatically. It wouldn't have such a huge impact if it was just one whale (because there are a lot of whales in the ocean) but, the problem is that it’s not just one whale - it’s multiple whales and the number is increasing dramatically. For example, there were fourteen dead whales found in 2017, and that’s only around Long Island. This may not seem like a lot but in 2016, there were four large whale deaths, in 2015, there were eight, and in 2014, there were six. As going deeper into the past, there were fewer beached whales. What’s causing this rapid rise of whale deaths? Different people have different opinions, one commonly assumed cause is human activity. Whales get caught in fishing nets and get hit by ships because of humans. Whales are an important part of the food chain and humans are killing them off. Whale death numbers have increased rapidly, and many deaths are on or near Long Island. We need to protect whales and other animals and change what’s happening. Sources: https://www.newsday.com/long-island/why-stranded-whales-1.15630820 https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/most-whale-deaths-in-past-40-years-were-caused-by-humans/ Sevcan Arabaci If your a fan of Grey's Anatomy, you already know that Meredith is a hard- working intern and soon to be doctor. If you watch this show you would know that Meredith Grey is the main character. In the show there's a lot that goes on in her life . At one point in the show, Meredith got really depressed and tried to drown herself, but another character named Derek Shepherd dove in the water and saved her. Meredith and Derek had a long, rough, love history in the show, but they have always cared about each other throughout the show. Another close character to Meredith in the show is Cristina Yang. In the show Cristina is Meredith's best friend and they go through a lot together. Meredith also really didn't have a father figure because when she was young her mom and dad got divorced, which resulted her in living with her mom, but over a few years Meredith had to start looking after her mom because her mom started to develop Alzheimer's. Since that happened she had to grow up at a young age which kinda messed up her childhood. After her parents divorced, her dad re-married and had another child, which is Meredith's half- sister. That becomes tough on Meredith because she doesn't want to have a relationship with her half- sister because she enveis and gets jealous that she had a father figure. Her mom was also a doctor so she kinda took her mom's footsteps in the show. With that everyone in the hospital knows her mom. That’s just a little overview of what Meredith is like in the show, but if you want to know more about her I suggest you watching the show. Abigail Almskog Our school has a swim team in combination with Sayville. SayBayBlue is a varsity swim and dive team. The are 6 Bayport people on the team and the rest are Sayville. The season started mid-August and goes to mid-October unless you qualify for regional meets, in which you would swim through November. Practice is held 6 days a week and sometimes with an early morning practice before school. A swim meet is different than sports game because one team cannot simply win. Each swim or relay group can win an event against other people or they can get their personal best time. There are different events and each lap is 25 yards or meters. On Friday September 7, we beat Stony Brook School but it was only a practice meet so some of the events are different. We also won our meets against Sachem and West Islip! Here are the events and times of the Stony Brook meet (our team is in blue): John LaFountain
On the 4th of September 2018, Suffolk County legislature has proposed the “Restricting information on salaries and earnings” or the Rise act. Officials claim will “bring about pay equally and prevent discrimination”. The proposed bill was introduced to the Suffolk County legislature by Suffolk County executive Steve Bell. The proposed RISE act would by (at least by intended purpose and in theory) would prohibit employers whose business reside in Suffolk County, from inquiring the wage history (of a potential employee's former and/or current job) for the duration of job interviews and hirings. Bellone claims that the “wage gap that gives women and people of color less capital than their white male counterparts”, and the RISE act would “foster pay equity and prevent discrimination”. Thus the proposed RISE act would act as an effective counterbalance against the alleged “wage gap” that Bellone claims exist in Suffolk county. However, Bellone failed to list any examples of this alleged discrimination, of employers inquiring a future employees wage history. Bellone also did not specify what punishments employers might face if they ask for wage history. Saying that “it was not the responsibility of his office. To reiterate, employers ofter ask for a prospective employees wage history at any previous jobs, which would help the employer and business owner determine the salary of the possible future employee. Bellone claims, that some business owners within the boundaries of Suffolk County, “intentionally exploit” this question “when it comes to wages”. Bellone asserts, that the proposed RISE act will ensure the stipend and pay offered by employers to ethnic minorities and women (who Bellone claims, are affected by the alleged “wage gap”), are instead based on their “responsibility and qualifications” than on their previous wage history at prior jobs. If the legislature of Suffolk County approves the RISE act. It is projected to go into effect on the 30th of June 2018. Information derived from the source The Suffolk County News article County foster's legislation to foster pay equality, by Anthony Perrotta. Ryann Leahy
With school being back in session the Falls sports have begun. The girl's Varsity soccer team began their season out with a week of trial. With hell week, they have been practicing since August 20th, and have given plenty of effort to get prepared for this upcoming Fall season. Having weekday and Saturday practices with their coach and trainer, Ryan Gick and Mark Peterson. From the freshman to the seniors, this youthful group of girls has pushed each other through the hardship of a harsh practice to an unsuccessful game outcome. Whether the girls wearing their white or blue uniforms marked with their preferred number, when it came down to the time in the game the girls were busting their behinds to get that pass through or goal in the net. And if they were on the sidelines they were being supportive to the girls on the field. This group of young girls whether if it is on the field or off the field have created a connection and they're going to have an excellent season. Good luck Girls Varsity soccer! With a victorious win to start off the session the girls Varsity soccer team is looking at an outstanding Fall session. Lauren Rodriguez Little Peepers Preschool is a play-based educational program where children learn about all sorts of normal preschool subjects, however recess is out in the South Shore Nature Center where animals run rampant throughout the mature upland forests. The children take daily hikes and adventure the boardwalks above the vast salt marsh while learning, seeing, and discussing the wildlife they come across. The preschool children meet face to face with all sorts of animals, some they can touch and others they learn early on to keep a distance from, for either their safety or for the animals comfort, along with this the kids learn how they can help protect their nearby forest animals by learning about wildlife conservation. The children pick up litter, hold fundraisers, and so on. Nature Center based schools are not only limited to Seatuck’s program. Little Peepers Preschool was designed after the Ann Arbor Forest School, another nature based school in Michigan that prides themselves as Washtenaw County’s first forest school. Every time they climb a tree, jump a fence, or roll down a hill, their bodies, minds, and spirits are exercised. Nature helps children relax, problem solve, release built-up anxiety and energy, clear their thoughts, gain perspective on things, and sort out inner dilemmas. – Nature Sparks, Connecting Children’s Learning to the Natural World by Aerial Cross Forest schools are just starting to become relivate in America, so while there are plenty of nature-based preschools, there aren’t any options for children above kindergarten. However forest-based elementary schools, middle schools, and even high schools in Europe have existed for years. These schools offer something that could help children with learning disabilities, attention difficulties, anxiety and so on, and that’s the hands-on and freer nature of the school program itself. Their learning experience with animals and nature could set a child who plans on having a career that has to do with those ahead of others because all their experience with natural forest wildlife and the out of ordinary class pets nature preserves have. These classes could also help a child with an anxiety disorder because of the natural calming nature of things like hiking and animal watching. Paying attention is not a difficult thing with all the interesting happenings in forest schools, these classes would be easier to pay attention in than the standard overheated classroom would - there wouldn’t be much of a chance a child would be caught staring off into space from a daily lecture. Nature Preserve schools could also support saving the environment, today’s schools are slowly incorporating technology which would mean even more screen time for students, although this isn’t a bad thing it could cause a disconnect with students and nature. This is a potential solution. High school students taking daily walks through nature to get from class to class. Seeing wild rabbits, birds, and squirrels, can make someone have an appreciation for wildlife. So those same students will have a more personal reaction when forests are cut down, or animals are hurt by forest fires. Those students would be taught the importance of recycling, conserving energy, saving wildlife and ect. These schools could be a very important step in our society, they might be small now but with time these schools could be a normal option for students other than the few choices we have. Justin Pearlstein
The Walking Dead is a television show that started back on October 31, 2010. It quickly picked up ratings and became the number one cable show on air. One of the best features of the show is its characters, as the characters are the core of the show and are what keep people watching year after year. While the show has a huge variety of different characters all with there own unique story, there is one character that defiantly is the most interesting and complex, Negan. Ever since he made his entrance into the show in the season six finale, he has been an iconic character. He was a lot more than just an evil villain who did bad things just because he's evil and that's all there is to him. Right away you could tell he made sure that he was the center of everyone's attention, by having himself make a grand entrance to our group when he walked out of the RV. Negan does and says a lot of weird things that at first glance that seem ridiculous, but if you take a closer look into his character you will see that there is meaning behind these things. Some of the strange things he does include him naming his baseball bat Lucille, enjoying spending time with kids on the show, cursing a lot, and his obsession with rules and consequences. However these things can all be explained if you know his backstory. His baseball bat is named after his wife, who died of cancer when the outbreak started. He named the bat after her to try and keep her memory alive, and because he couldn't move on from the loss. He enjoyed spending time with children on the show because before the outbreak, he was a school teacher and coach. He became a teacher because he found youth fascinating and wanted to set kids on what he believed to be the right path in life. This is why he instantly took an interest in Carl, and would talk to him a ton and actually be nice to him. Even when Carl came to Negan's home base called “The Sanctuary” and took out a couple of his men, instead of Negan punishing Carl or even just taking Carl out entirely, he let Carl into The Sanctuary and gave him a tour of it, and tried to take him under his wing. Negan also curses a lot, but this can be explained by his honesty. Negan hates lying, and studies have shown that people who curse more tend to be more honest in general, as he is expressing how he truly feels all the time without holding back. The obsession with rules and consequences comes from his history in the apocalypse. Ever since the start, negan has been surviving with many different people and different groups, but they would always fail and he would always be the last person standing. Eventually Negan came to believe that this must be because there were no rules or proper leadership there to help guide them and there group as a hole. So when Negan decided to start his own group of survivors called “The Saviors” he made a specific set of rules for the group and then a specific set of consequences to follow. This shows how even though on the surface Negan may seem like a maniac, deep down there is actually a lot of thought and reason as to why he does and says those crazy things. |