You can submit…

• Short stories (fiction or non-fiction)
• Poetry
• Scanned artwork
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Send entries to southauthorsanonymous@gmail.com. Entries will appear on South Side Story Online and are eligible for being in future print issues. Basic rules and guidelines apply.

Guidelines for Submissions

• State your full name in the email. No anonymous entries are accepted, contrary to our name.
• List your third hour teacher
• Keep it school appropriate.
• Must be original work

Senior Kristin Anderson, who has been a member of the Lorax Club for three years, said that the idea of a shoe drive originated earlier, but how the club would dispose of the shoes was different.

“We wanted to recycle a bunch a shoes but we found out that we couldn’t recycle them because they don’t a place to do it in Alaska. We still wanted to do the shoe drive so we decided to donate the shoes to charity instead,” Anderson said.

Though the good intension of the club was there, Anderson admitted that it wasn’t the most popular fundraiser, with it only collecting a couple pairs of shoes, two of which Anderson donated herself.

“I heard about the drive and saw them collecting by the elevator but I didn’t donate any shoes,” sophomore Jack Novak said.

Its comments and results like this that make Lorax Club advisor Jamie Shearer believe even more that it’s important to raise awareness about the consequences human life is having on the earth.

“The problems related to the environment such as over consumption, global warming, resource depletion, etc. are not going to go away,” Shearer said.

Luckily Anderson, Shearer and the rest of the Lorax Club have more planned to get this awareness out there. Specifically they are focusing on getting Greenware, or a more “green” alternative to styrofoam, into to the school cafeterias.

“A petition was written, signatures gathered and now we are waiting on the next step – getting support from schools across Anchorage before bringing the issue before the District Administration,” Shearer said.

Shearer said that this district wide petition is a big step for a club that started as a way to get a recycling program started in South Anchorage High School but after it accomplished that, the club has slowly evolved into an instrument for environmental change in both the high school and the community.

Witty, to the point, and a bit sad, He’s Just Not That Into You involves the worn out troubles of relationships, but at the same time is still an enjoyable movie

The film playfully bounces around the lives of six characters who all struggle with relationships, whether it be with marriage or dating. All loosely connected, the characters to some extent derive from Gigi, a young woman who has trouble reading the signals given by her dates. Gigi (Ginnifer Goodwin), confused and hopeless but at the same time amusing, gets dating advice from Alex (Jason Long), a bartender. From here, the characters branch off into a love triangle, which is actually more like a creative zig zag of relationships, and a long time couple disagreeing on their next step. Other well known actors in the cast are Jennifer Aniston, Ben Affleck, and Scarlett Johansson.

The label of this movie, “romantic-comedy,” did not misinform. The movie was definitely full of romance and light humor, entertaining those who can relate to the dating world and the rejection that comes along with it. The random documentary-like interviews provided a good laugh and transition between the worlds of the characters. Advice was given through these interviews and throughout the movie as narrated by Gigi, giving the movie a larger relevance than expected.

The behavior of some of the characters was realistic in their situations, but also slightly exaggerated to force a laugh. However, pity was an emotion felt throughout the movie, as some of the behaviors were slightly pathetic, but this also added to the light humor. The “aw” factor also took place, as is ritual for romantic-comedies, making it another “feel good” movie.

This movie would mainly appeal to young women as the movie is slightly biased towards men, who were seen as the rejecters rather than the rejectees with one exception in a six character movie. Fun and slightly dramatic, He’s Just Not That Into You is a good movie for a relaxing night on the weekend.

The Obama symbol is cut on Max Lloyd's head.

Max Lloyd is feeling good about his future. Despite the difficult economic times, not to mention AP tests coming up, it’s a wonder how the seventeen-year-old junior can stay so positive. The reason behind Lloyd’s blissful state of being is the recent election of the now president of the United States of America, Barack Obama, and Lloyd’s attendance of Obama’s presidential inauguration.

“I just felt really accomplished and relieved that he was elected,” Lloyd said.

This feeling of accomplishment comes from Lloyd’s many contributions to the Obama campaign.

“I skipped school on election day to volunteer at Obama headquarters,” Lloyd said.

Not only did he volunteer, but Lloyd even dressed up as Obama for Halloween. Lloyd said he was proud to stand in the cold and very crowded Washington D.C. for the inauguration.

“This is something that I’ll remember for the rest of my life. I was an eyewitness, or an ear witness rather, to history,” Lloyd said.

However, not all of the students that went with the South trip are as pro-Obama as Max Lloyd.

“When we signed up for the trip, McCain and Palin still had a chance of winning,” sophomore Carl J. Bartenstein explained.

After experiencing the inauguration in person, Bartenstein said that he is still trying to stay hopeful for the future, even though his candidate wasn’t elected.

“I hope he does a good job, but I still disagree with his stance on certain issues,” Bartenstein said.

Though Lloyd and Bartenstein may disagree on the politics of the inauguration, one thing that they agreed on was the speech president Obama made, with Lloyd calling it “refreshing,” while Bartenstein referring to it as “thoughtful.” Stephanie Seward said she was truly inspired by both the speech and the inauguration was administrative chaperone.

“It was a really significant event to be a part of. His speech was uplifting and positive, and the feeling in the crowd during the inauguration was emotional as well as excited,” Seward said.

While the arguments of politics will inevitably continue to divide Democrats and Republicans, one thing that united the differently opinionated minds of some select students from South High and two million other people was knowing that they were becoming a part of history.

Thursday night, Warren spoke to a full house at the Wendy Williamson Auditorium on the UAA campus to share his story as the mastermind of Post Secret.

“There are two kinds of secrets. The ones we keep from ourselves and the ones we keep from other people,” said Warren. And he plans to share them, at least those that have not made it into one of the four post secret books. Warren read secrets ranging from religious “I still believe in God but I’ve lost my religion” to moving “What you did to me when I was 16 was wrong. I never felt so alone in my life. I never felt so much pain. Today I am strong because of you. Thank you” to funny “I’ve always wanted to rob a bank.” But the secrets did not end there.

The audience was invited to head to microphones set up on the sides of the theatre to tell their own secret. And many did. The stories ranged from suicidal family members to tanning beds to cheating. Why does Warren think people are willing to share their deepest, darkest secrets with a total stranger? It is like an “open conversation… By sharing secrets…that can save lives,” said Warren, who works for the National Hopeline Network’s suicide hotline. The director of the All-American Rejects offered to pay $1,000 for the use of the postcards in the Dirty Little Secret music video. Warren said no, but would comply if $2,000 was given to the Hopeline. The director complied.

The fashion industry mixed with high school politics creates a vicious circle of empty wallets, low self esteem and closets filled with lonely handbags. So why enter it in the first place? Sure, your social pain and suffering would be devastating. But why would you want to be friends with someone who mocked you simply because you didn’t buy the right purse?

This generation has been taught to constantly monitor and look up to those who are better off, economically and socially, than we are. If Paris Hilton (or even just a popular girl at your school) has a new, expensive pair of shoes, then I should want and try my hardest to get them, even if I can’t afford it. What we need to do is to focus on being ourselves (as cliché as that sounds) and stop wishing for the tooth fairy to leave an extra 500 dollars for a Gucci bag under your pillow. Because, in the words of Mick Jagger, “You can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you’ll get what you need.”

“I’m 17. I’m 5’11’’ and a half and I’m ridiculously smart and ridiculously good looking,” said senior contestant Jonathan Burns. “I was raised by beavers and my favorite drink is maple syrup.”

Comments like this are not out of the ordinary from South Anchorage’s own male beauty pageant participants. From talking about physique to doing just about anything for a laugh, the contestants ranging from freshmen to seniors embrace the oddity of Mr.Irresistible.

“It gives me a chance to show everyone at South my sexy body and my native heritage,” said senior contestant Kyle Ivanoff.

On February 12th, entrants will be judged on criteria such as amazingness, studliness, and originality in the events of swimwear, formalwear, and talent. The contenders do not take their preparation lightly.

“I do my 1,000 crunches a day,” said junior contestant Sean Holmes. “I’ve been watching a lot of late night HBO and taking long showers and bubble baths.”

Senior Bryce Eckroth also has been preparing. “I’ve been pumping a lot of iron and wrestling bears,” Eckroth said. “I like to spend time in the wilderness, bonding in the animal world, partying with the sloths, giraffes, Anum Qadirs, and badgers.”

Freshman Spencer Beatty is “eating a lot of cake and drinking milk” while his fellow freshman and friend, John Whittinger, has been hitting the gym and practicing his talent three times a week.

Senior contestant Kevin Cousin has also been practicing for his talent, a dance to “Beat It” by Michael Jackson. Other talents this year include talking like Donald Duck, dancing like Napoleon Dynamite, teaching someone how to fly fish, and a few unknowns.

“People should come to see my surprising talent,” said a sophomore Mr.Irresistible hopeful. “Because I’m Steve Bodick.”

Rehearsing their talents, witty banter, and poise, the contestants all strive to be irresistible. “You definitely have to be funny, entertaining-really out there I guess,” said junior Anum Qadir, organizer of the upcoming event.

Mr.Irresistible will be on February 12th at 7 p.m. in the auditeria. Tickets will be sold for five dollars. “[People should come] to see all the hot men because it’s going to be raining men-that’s an awesome song by the way,” said senior contestant Gabe Holland.

Students sat in circles and nibbled on crumpets and sipped tea and coffee as they discussed global issues, primary source documents and poetry. Soft music played in the background.

This year government and history teacher Christine Scott and English teacher Rebecca Gerik joined together their 5^th hour AP Literature class and 5^th hour AP World History class for finals.

For finals, Gerik’s and Scott’s students were assigned to create a coffee house of the world. Students were assigned to find and completely understand either a primary source document or a poem from another country. The students then attended a coffee and tea party and participated in intelligent group discussions about topics from around the world.

“It’s not your traditional final,” said Gerik’s student Andrew Dougherty, “And I actually enjoy it a lot more.”

“This assignment was created to help students understand the purpose of globalization,” said Scott.

“I love being completely involved in class projects,” said Scott’s student Christen Chester.

In the project students were assigned to understand a country using all five senses. For example one group listened to German music, smelled flowers from Italy, ate bread from Egypt, felt beautiful garments from Spain and looked at pictures of Romania.

Gerik and Scott thought the entire project was a success and are hoping to do the project again in future years.

“Should I put ‘good luck South skiers’ or ‘good luck skiers’?” “Mmmm…Good luck skiers.” A group of students armed with bottles of paint, brushes, and glitter are busily painting signs. Not signs to put up around the school, but around the trails. This is South’s cross-country ski team. Those who are not in the ski room waxing or getting their spandex uniforms are making signs