When I think about my high school experience, I look at all four years very differently. Freshmen year almost felt like an extension of junior high at times, but at other times felt like something so much better with a lot of potential to be enjoyable. My sophomore and junior years of high school felt like one super long busy year filled with way too much work. By the end of my junior year my brain was fried and had been pushed to the limit by the middle two years of high school. And outside of school my life was like a rollercoaster, with a lot of ups and downs. I had a lot of good times, but with way too many crappy times mixed between.

Then came senior year.

Freshmen year was nice for me because my older brother was a senior that year. At the time I didn’t really understand the relaxed atmosphere of senior year, and couldn’t believe the stuff he did and got away with. I learned stuff from him that year that became useful to me a lot throughout high school, especially this year when I took a similar route with my senioritis, pushing the limits of the school’s disciplinary system to see what exactly they’d let me get away with. That’s not to say I tried to get in trouble, but I tried to get the senior experience I always heard about and I think I did. The thought, “I’m a senior I’ll get away with it” crossed my head way too many times when I was deciding whether I should get up or go back to bed, or go to my afternoon classes on a certain day. And for a while I successfully went with that system, till it all caught up to me. By the end of my little run I had gotten in trouble a lot, and probably built a not so good reputation with a lot of my second semester teachers. I guess now would probably be a good time to apologize for that. It wasn’t anything more than me taking a back seat to my senioritis, but I missed a lot of class. Shout out to Mr. Sibley for personally beating that habit out of me (figuratively of course).

For some reason I developed the habit of making friends with a lot of older kids their senior year, and through that developed a lot of interesting one year long relationships with different people. Freshmen year it was my older brother and his friends, specifically Andrew Johnson and Lucas Hackel. They showed me the ropes of high school, and helped me make a lot of friends in the process. Sophomore and junior years it came from being an officer for Best Buddies, and spending every Monday with people like Jo Jo Tabor, Kelly Sherman, and Tim Hannigan. Those times were fun, even if I wasn’t the best officer.

Clarion has also done a lot for me, and has always been a class to look forward to for the last three years. My first year on the staff was also the first year for the website, and I learned a lot from watching the senior leadership on staff from Emily Mussio, Jordan Messner, Sara Skiba, and Kieran Brennan. The next year I was a lot more comfortable in class, and had really good times with Rigo Reyes, Eddie Morrissey, George Suchy, and Mark McDonaugh. That 3^rd period Clarion last year was probably the most fun class I ever had while at RB.

I also had a lot of really memorable teachers at RB and want to give them a shout out: Ms. Cabaj, Ms. Wilmot, Ms. Goldberg, Mrs. Gallagher, Mrs. Sarkady, Mr. Till, Todd, Mr. Forberg, and Mr. Beasley all had a lasting impression on me for different reasons.

This year I also spent a lot of time hanging out in the life skills room and very quickly became friends with the adult aides who work with the kids, including Nick Dragisic, Brad Paus, John Gaines, Will Sisson, and Mrs. Swan and Delzotti. Although there were perks like using their fridge and microwave, I quickly began enjoying hanging out with them and they ended up having a big impact on my senior year.

But most of all Mr. Mancoff for being dedicated to the Clarion and being responsible for developing my writing skills the last three years. And since I’m going into writing as a career I owe him a lot and thank him for that. And finally I want to thank Kate Abbatacola and Andy Jones for having major impacts on my life in and out of school for reasons known to them.

I guess looking back I accomplished a lot here the last four years, and am leaving a completely different person than when I arrived. It’s funny now that I’ve started writing I could go on forever, but all of this is ending very quickly.

College here I come, go Hoosiers.

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All the promotion built up to April 12^th, when the band released their seventh album “Wasting Light” worldwide. The album was the first to feature the new five person lineup for the band, as former lead guitarist and longtime touring guitarist Pat Smear was added to the band as the second main guitarist splitting parts with current lead guitarist Chris Shiftlett. With Dave Grohl still playing rhythm guitar this presented the band with an opportunity to blend three distinctive guitar styles together to make one solid sound that “sounds like the Foo Fighters” according to Grohl. It works really well on the album as it adds heaviness and complexity to the sound.

Besides for adding Pat Smear to the band the Foo Fighters also recorded the album in a different spot than they usually do. A couple of years ago the Foo Fighters built a recording studio that they’ve used to record the two previous albums “In Your Honor” and “Echoes, Silence, Patience, & Grace”. But Grohl felt the band was too concerned with being musical and wasn’t playing like a rock band. So for “Wasting Light” the band decided to record in Grohl’s garage. It made the recording process more enjoyable as they were able to bring their families to hang out at the Grohl house while they recorded in the garage. Another interesting change with the recording process was the equipment the producer Butch Vig, who is reuniting with Grohl for the first time since 1991 when Nirvana made “Nevermind”, used to achieve the sound Grohl was looking for. Instead of recording digitally and editing it and making it perfect the band decided to record on analogue tape equipment and convert it digitally in post-mastering. This presented the band with the challenge of playing well enough where they didn’t have to edit certain parts of the songs, but between the garage and analogue equipment they were rewarded with a raw heavy sound unlike anything the Foo Fighters have ever done.

From front to finish “Wasting Light” is phenomenal. It starts with the high energy “Bridge Burning”, where the first vocals we hear from Grohl is him screaming “These are my famous last words”. Grohl uses his patented scream more frequently in “Wasting Light” to really committ to that garage rock band sound he was aiming for. The lead single of the album, “Rope”, is the best example of how great the Foo Fighters sound with three guitars. They are all playing different parts at the same time, and blended together it sounds really good.

Making so much music with Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme has finally influenced Grohl in a Foo Fighters album, with the song “White Limo” being the best example. It’s unlike anything the Foo Fighters have ever done, but the high velocity vocals from Grohl work with the Queens of the Stone Age gritty guitar style and results in a raw rock sound.

Some songs sound like the normal Foos, but the quality of the songs is at its highest since 1997’s “The Colour and The Shape”. “Alandria” brings back memories of “The Pretender” from their last album, but with a better melody and less intensity. Even the filler of the album is great for the most part, with “A Matter of Time” and “These Days” being the standout of the bunch.

The second to last track is the eerie “I Should Have Known”, which shows Grohl singing with torment and guilt in the beginning and slowly building into a rage he unleashes at the end of the song. The song was written about Grohl’s longtime friend Jimmy Swanson who died of a drug overdose a few years ago, but it can just as easily be interpreted as being about Nirvana bandmate Kurt Cobain. Throughout the song, Grohl’s emotional charge comes from his knowledge that he could have gone down the same road as his close friend had he not been given a different fate. The building suspense of the song ends with him sounding somewhat psychotic and it’s hard not to feel his pain.

After the tormented “I Should Have Known” the band closes the album with the comeback tale “Walk”. The song talks about a man who overcomes his demons and starts over one step at a time. The highlight of the track is when Grohl takes what seems to be just another line in the verse and turns it into the refrain by chanting it over and over and continuing on with the momentum. It’s one of the highlights of the album and is the perfect way to end it. Its ability to counter “I Should Have Known” makes it the best album closer since “New Way Home” from their prime effort “The Colour and The Shape”.

“Wasting Light” is a very good album that goes harder than anything they’ve ever done and is a collection of well written songs by Dave Grohl. Their previous album “Echoes, Silence, Patience, & Grace” was really good as well, but it didn’t have that album feel and seemed more like an album of singles. The songs were good for the most part and some were great, but nothing compared to “Wasting Light”, their most focused album since 1997, and something for Grohl to be proud of and move forward on.

This album could be the beginning of a new era of the Foo Fighters if they can build on this momentum. And with a headlining gig at this year’s Lollapalooza already confirmed, it looks like this could be the Foo Fighters’ year…again.

With the team ready to go the Cubs opened at home against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Although they ended up losing the series the team showed potential to fair well as long as they stay healthy. Unfortunately they haven’t stayed healthy, with injuries to their 4^th and 5^th starters Randy Wells and Andrew Cashner in consecutive starts. Both had to go on the disabled list until May leaving their spots to be filled by minor league starters and young relievers they want to stretch out.

So far their replacements have been okay; reliever James Russell got hammered by the Astros in his first career start but minor leaguer Casey Coleman picked up the slack a little by only giving up 4 runs in 5 innings and was in line for the win until Kerry Wood gave up the lead in the eighth.

Despite the injuries the Cubs have stayed around .500 so far this season. On the first home stand of the year they went 3-3 winning one series and losing the other. They then went on the road for 6 games and split 3-3 again. They haven’t always looked great, but besides for the 11-2 loss to the Astros they haven’t looked horrible yet this season. Hitting has been clutch at times and Carlos Marmol has been really good in the 9^th inning except for the rubber game against the Pirates when he blew the save and the game.

Ryan Dempster started slow losing his first two starts of the year before finally getting that first win against the Astros despite not pitching very well. Carlos Zambrano has been off to a hot start winning 2 of his first 3 starts and hit his first homerun of the season Wednesday against the Astros. New acquisition Matt Garza had a successful debut, tying a career high with 12 strikeouts through 7 innings while only giving up 3 runs against the Pirates. He had a less successful outing against the Brewers, giving up 5 runs in 5.2 innings while also striking out 8.

The bullpen has looked pretty good, specifically the 7-8-9 combo of Sean Marshall, Kerry Wood, and Carlos Marmol. Despite being responsible for 2 of the teams 6 losses the combo has looked very strong at times and appears to be one of the more feared end of the bullpens in the National League. The Cubs will do really well if they can get leads into the 7^th inning, with that combo to close it out.

Offensively Starlin Castro has been extremely impressive, hitting .389 with a major league leading 21 hits and team leading 11 runs. Marlon Byrd and Aramis Ramirez have also started strong, hitting .353 and .326 respectively and Byrd has also scored 10 runs. The power production has come from Alfonso Soriano who has 4 homeruns and 10 R.B.I.S to lead the team in both categories despite only hitting .250. Carlos Pena and Tyler Colvin are off to a slow start average wise, but have both driven in 6 runs and hit home runs. The Darwin Barney-Jeff Baker second base combination has worked out really well with Baker hitting .500 against lefties and Barney hitting .345 with six runs.

Despite their 6-6 record the Cubs have played well to start out the season and have the potential to be a good team when injuries clear up and they play to their potential. Starting pitching needs to improve, and the offense needs to be consistent for them to win more than they are now, but they have flashed moments of greatness, specifically Starlin Castro who could be on his way to an All Star season. If the rest of the team produces like they should, and they get leads into the 7^th it should be over almost every time with the ending combination of Marshall-Wood-Marmol. Look for the Cubs to improve their record and start competing for the Division in the upcoming months.

Although the promotion came quickly, Till is excited to take over as head coach and isn’t worried the change will affect the team’s play.

“It was quite an honor to be named head coach; I never thought it’d happen so quickly. I enjoyed being assistant, but I’m looking forward to being head coach this year. Former head coach Ziroli and I are very similar in philosophy and belief: to play hard and to play the game the right way. And if we do that hopefully some wins will come from it,” Till said.

With Till moving from assistant to head coach, someone needed to step in to take over his spot. That role was taken by security guard Mark Ruge, who had been helping out with the team since his son Joe played for the school. Ruge is excited to start the season, and has no worries about working with a new head coach.

“We (Coach Till) share the same philosophies about the game. I also helped run the summer and fall teams with him,” Ruge said.

Besides the new coaching staff, the team will also have to bounce back from losing key seniors from last year. Although that’s always an issue, it’s a little bit more of a big deal this year as they lost two of their top starters and some key offensive players.

“We lost some key guys from last year. The pitching staff is going to have to step up to recover from losing two of our top pitchers in Alex Brown and Matt Kenahan.” Till said.

Ruge echoed Till’s thoughts, but is confident they’ll bounce back.

“We did lose a couple of top guys, but our guys have been working hard to replace them. We’re going to focus on mixing it up, changing speeds, and working the ball down on the mound,” Ruge said.

“Chris James is the ace of the staff and we’ve also got JT Evans who transferred back to RB this year. We’re hoping for big years out of them and David Tortorici as our lefty specialist.” Till commented.

Besides for pitching, Ruge feels the offense needs better execution this year.

“Our infield is returning from last year and we have speed in the outfield so I’m confident in our defense. Offensively we need better execution. Our small game also has to improve along with being more aggressive on the base paths,” Ruge said.

The team will look to continue off of last year’s success in conference and regionals.

“We have some pretty big shoes to fill after making it to sectionals last year. We’re up for the challenge and I’m confident we’ll win conference. Hopefully we make it through regionals and get to sectionals. Our goal going into the season is to win at sectionals,” Till said.

The key to accomplishing that goal, according to Ruge, is to get off to a good start.

“We have a favorable schedule early on so we need to get off to a strong start. The season goes by quickly so hopefully weather doesn’t postpone any of our early games and we can have a great year.” Ruge said.

Tryouts took place on February 28^th and the team was official by the next week. Cuts had to be made early to prepare the team for the season as they don’t have much time before games start. Their season kicks off on March 18^th if weather permits at Elmwood Park. It will be a bit of a homecoming for Coach Till, returning to the school he coached at for many years before coming to RB last year.  After Elmwood Park they have games against local rivals St Joes and Nazareth on March 23^rd and 28^th respectively.

Till is anxious and excited for the weather to clear up so the season can begin.

“We’re getting sick of being inside because of bad weather. We want to get out and play on grass and get ready for our first game. I’m really excited for the season,” he said.

The most interesting thing about “Thank You, Happy Birthday” and Cage the Elephant in general is their extremely original and energetic sound. Throughout their 2009 debut, Cage the Elephant used more of a chaotic, fast garage rock sound with a lot of rapping from lead singer Matt Schultz. There were also elements of funk, classic rock, and hip hop throughout the album that when put together made an original and fun sound that could appeal to everyone. While it was energetic and entertaining, it also at times sounded very similar to the bands they took major influence from like the Red Hot Chili Peppers or Rolling Stones. Overall it was a very solid debut and really put the band in the limelight after the success of the first single from the album “Aint No Rest for the Wicked”.

Despite the success of the first album, the band went in a different direction with “Thank You, Happy Birthday” and the result was at times a more matured better Cage the Elephant. The first single of the album, “Shake me Down”, is a shining example of that. Centered around verses based off a simple guitar riff that builds up to the chorus, “Shake me Down” is a solid first single that represents the album well. It doesn’t sound that different from their first album, but it sounds like a more focused mature band that has improved for the better.

For the most part, “Thank You, Happy Birthday” is a very solid album from start to finish, but its shining moment comes during a three song stretch that features the best soft ballad (“Rubber Ball”) and two of the best songs on the album, “Right Before My Eyes” and “Around my Head”. Both have pop heavy choruses, but “Right Before my Eyes” picks up where “Rubber Ball” leaves off with a much softer approach where “Around my Head” sounds much more similar to something on “Cage the Elephant”. The album closer “Flow” is a seven minute ballad with half of the song dedicated to the song and the other half a hidden track after a little bit of silence. The hidden track is an alternate version of “Right Before my Eyes,” which is an appropriate ending considering “Right Before My Eyes” is arguably the best song on the album.

Despite clear focus for many songs on the album, some songs steer clear of that style and prefer the chaotic and sometimes unusual sound that made them famous. While these songs have their quality moments, they aren’t as strong as other songs on the album. The song “Indy Kidz”, for example, shows lead singer Matt Schultz taking a shot at the normal claiming “…it’s so easy to just step aside, and walk in line like all the rest, but I never did well on tests.” To add to the theme the whole song sounds like it could take place in an asylum and is on the hinge of being out of control. Although an interesting song, compared to the quality of some of the songs on the album it gets lost on first listen.

“Cage the Elephant” was a solid debut album that made the music industry stops and see what this new band from Bowling Green, Kentucky had to offer. Their first single sparked national interest and got the band featured in video games and movies. With “Thank you, Happy Birthday” Cage the Elephant sounds like a more focused, determined band that will be making albums for a long time. But it’s going to be hard to top this one.

Saw VI ended with Detective Hoffman (Costas Mandylor)remarkably escaping a  modified reverse bear trap Jigsaw’s ex wife Jill Tuck (Betsy Russell)put on his head, despite the fact that his hands were tied down and she didn’t leave the key. Hoffman was able to escape by breaking his left hand and slipping out of the chair, and then lodging the trap between the bars on the door. He then pulled his head out of the trap, ripping his cheek open in the process.

Saw 3D picks up there with Jill Tuck watching Hoffman break out of the trap, and then escaping before Hoffman can find her. She goes to Internal Affairs Detective Matt Gibson (Chad Donella) and gives him information on Hoffman’s involvement with Jigsaw in exchange for immunity. They hold her in the police station for protection and start hunting Hoffman.

Meanwhile the main game for the movie involves a man named Bobby Dagen (Sean Patrick Flanery) who rose to fame as a self help guru by writing a book about his experience surviving a Jigsaw trap. He was a fraud however, and had never been in a trap. He got the idea after seeing a survivor on the news and his friend mentioned that someone could get rich selling their story. The idea worked to get him rich, but was a dumb idea in the long run as he found himself in one of Jigsaw’s games. The rest of the movie plays out with Hoffman hunting down Jill Tuck while the police hunt Hoffman and Dagen tries to save his wife and friends. It sets up for an exciting finish, with a traditional Saw twist that successfully ties the final film back to the original. It’s one of the better endings of any movie in the series and will leave the audience blown away the first time.

The obvious appeal for the Saw movies is the traps and Saw 3D had some of the best. There were eleven traps in the movie, which is the most ever in any single Saw movie. The traps were also extremely creative, with the first trap ever to take place outside opening the film. It was an interesting trap because it took place in a window display in a shopping center with about 400 people walking around. They start to crowd around the window when the people wake up and start to freak out. Nobody’s really sure what’s going on until the classic jigsaw doll Billy comes from behind something in the window and the game is described to everyone. The trap is hooked up so that everything that is said is played through a loud speaker somewhere outside so all the people crowded around the glass were able to hear what exactly is going on. Obviously panic ensued but nothing could be done as the game played out before everyone’s eyes. It was interesting because usually games take place in deserted places where nobody could find them, but this trap was out in the open for everyone to witness.

Another interesting trap in the movie took place in this junkyard garage. It focused on a man named Evan (Chester Bennington, lead singer from Linkin Park) who had his back stuck onto the driver’s seat of a car. His two friends and girlfriend were also in the trap and their survival depended on whether the man could detach himself from the seat, ripping his skin off in the process, and reach a lever on the hood of the car. If he couldn’t reach the lever the jacks holding the car up would drop setting off a chain reaction that would result in the brutal death of all four of them.

Overall Saw 3D is an excellent movie for anyone that follows the series. It’s a solid ending to the series, although not perfect. There is one big question that is created at the end of the movie, but unfortunately it’s never answered. Another issue with the movie is the fact that Jigsaw (Tobin Bell) doesn’t have a big part. He’s been dead since Saw III but has had major roles in the rest of the films through flashbacks and tapes. He was in a few flashbacks, specifically an enjoyable one where he goes to Dagen’s book signing and hints that he knows he’s a fraud, but he didn’t have a major role like before.

Despite the small issues Saw 3D is still one of the best movies in the series. Fans of the series won’t be surprised with what they see, but they will be pleased with the traps and especially the ending. The best part about the Saw movies is the loyal following it has, as without knowing the other movies Saw 3D would make no sense. That’s the way it is with all series, but it’s especially true with Saw as there are a lot of details throughout the movie that would not make any sense to non fans of the series. For example, Dagen holds a self help meeting for any jigsaw trap survivor early on in the film, and a lot of the characters from the past films that survived returned for the meeting. It was interesting as a fan to see the characters after the trap, but for a non fan they wouldn’t know who these characters are. And obviously with all Saw movies it’s an acquired taste, and despite not being well received with critics has been a hit with fans since the beginning. Although it’s sad that the series has come to a close, Saw 3D successfully closed the door on one of the most famous horror series of the last decade.

From 5-8 Culvers donated 10% of the profit of all orders made with the half sheet the club was handing out at the door. The sheet was available to anyone that went to RB or was with someone from RB. The orders could be made from inside the restaurant or from the drive thru.

Best Buddies helped with the crowds caused by this event by delivering the food. The standard protocol at the restaurant is that after the person orders they get a number and go sit down until their food is ready. The food is then delivered to them by a worker. From 5-8 however all the officers in the club took shifts delivering the food to their fellow classmates, and to the drive thru orders outside. This helped deal with how crowded and busy it was at the restaurant and it was entertaining to have food delivered by a classmate. The club also collected additional donations during the event.

The event was also very popular within the community, as there were a lot of people there that didn’t go to RB who still came out to support the club. The event was a huge success for both the club and the restaurant, because the crowd gave the restaurant business and for all that business the restaurant donated 10% of it back to the club. It was also a great place for the peer buddies in the club to take their buddies out for dinner and hang out during the school week.

Senior Thomas Linehan enjoyed hanging out with his buddy in the middle of the week.

“The club doesn’t usually have events in the middle of the week so it was a nice change of pace. And it was fun getting food and hanging out with people from RB that are in Best Buddies and some that aren’t. It was a good event for anyone at RB because it was for a good cause and an excuse to go out to Culvers,” said Linehan.

Best Buddies has been very successful in their fundraisers this year, with this Culvers event and the selling of Jamba Juice on two separate Fridays. Both fundraisers have worked so well that the club won’t have their annual cookie dough sale in the winter and won’t need to sell lollipops in the Spring like they did last year.  

The next Best Buddies event is the holiday party on December 11, 2010.