The James Logan Courier

By Alexys Cran, Courier Staff Writer

The murals painted on the Berlin Wall were first painted months after it came down on November 9, 1989. They are currently being recreated by the 90 original artists from around the world, so that they may bring new life to the murals. Pollution, weather, and time had eroded the images. Only five of the original group of artists refrained from the restorations and six others have died, their murals being renovated by the rest of the artists.

For many of them, this is an emotional matter as the Berlin Wall is representative for a complete loss of freedom people had at the time preceding November 9, 1989.

By Shamal Asnani, Courier Film Critic

At James Logan High School, a school with a population of more than four thousand students, it seems like the one thing that they can agree on is the value and necessity of homework. Many students are able to agree that homework contains many fewer pros than cons, for a variety of reasons.

Twelfth grader Ian Phillips said “I believe homework is a waste of time because students aren’t forced to try as hard as they possibly can. Students see homework as a task rather than a learning opportunity and gain nothing from it.”

By Julie Mendoza, Courier Staff Writer

No matter how many schools you’ve attended there are some things that never change. There are qualities instilled in all adolescent environments.

Being a student who’s transferred to 15 different schools throughout her life (James Logan being her fourth high school), I’ve discovered several indisputable truths. Entering a new high school is like entering the land of opportunity. At first, everyone is nice. And ultimately you can be whoever you want to be. Unfortunately, 99% of the time you don’t know who that is. It may be refreshing at first, but reinventing yourself is risky. In the high school society, students always pay closer attention to the unknown.

By Laurel Brodzinsky, Courier Staff Writer

In a high school campus of 4,000 students, it is inevitable that every school day there will be students who do not have their homework to turn in, for whatever reason. Usually these reasons include forgetting to do it, misplacing it, or not doing it in favor of something more interesting. The part I want to call attention to here isn’t the fact that the student didn’t do his/her homework, but the excuse they give. If you aren’t going to have your homework ready, the least you can do is come up with a more creative excuse than “my dog ate it’, which while classic has lost it’s charm. So here are 25 various excuses, in no particular order, to make your excuse making a little bit more interesting.


1. The cicadas outside the window make it impossible to read Plato’s The Republic.
This is for those AP English students who procrastinate reading almost every single book.
2. Had to rescue a kitten from a tree. Fire department unavailable due to mysterious arson in usual class building.
I think we can all appreciate this one after all the fire alarms school has been having.
3. Trying to master catching flies with chopsticks. Limited success.
Everyone needs a life goal.

Got a good excuse? Share it in the Comments section.

By William Hageman
Chicago Tribune (MCT)

As the number of Wi-Fi hot spots grows, travelers might want to heed a word of caution from the Wi-Fi Alliance, a nonprofit industry group that promotes Wi-Fi technology: Think security.

"There's always a trade-off between ease of connecting and Wi-Fi security," said Kelly Davis-Felner, spokeswoman for the group, "so when folks are using ... a hot spot, they typically should assume that security is not enabled. We advise people that they should use caution when doing things like banking or online shopping in a public Wi-Fi hot spot."

By Laurel Brodzinky, Courier Staff Writer

Thursday during fourth and fifth periods, several PE classes were startled by the booming roar of a cannon. Not many high schools generally have Civil War era cannons lying around their parking lots, but Logan teacher Richard Lawrence, who teaches drafting, has been bringing his cannons to Logan for years to show off to students.

By Micah Mahinay, Courier Staff Writer

Mercedes Benz Fashion Week this year took place on September 10-17 in New York City. With high fashion designers such as, Ralph Lauren, Betsey Johnson, Charlotte Ronson, Anna Sui etc…

Judging by all the amazing photos taken by photographers from around the world, all the designers, put their products out on the runway to show people who attended their show what, they have been working on.

By Alexys Cran, Courier Staff Writer


Riding your bicycle instead of driving your car to school or to work can help you save money, lose weight, stay healthy, and help the environment. However, according to the Cascade Education Foundation, only 25% of the U.S. population rides their bicycles and 16% of American teenagers ride theirs to and from school. Although not all students should ride their bikes for transportation to school, if the percentage were to increase then pollution would decrease, teenagers would be healtier, and save their parents a lot of gas money.

By Gurpinder Kaur, Courier Editor-in-Chief

The first ever Hacky Sack club is officially active at James Logan High School.

The club consists of five official members, who are always open to new people joining.

“No experience is required. I had to learn when I first started playing. I don‘t know why people didn‘t join before.” said President Gabri Di Fore, “We have five members and it’s still growing. It’ll grow.”

By Gene Trainor
McClatchy Newspapers (MCT)

FORT WORTH, Texas — When Carter Schimpff enrolled at Texas Christian University four years ago, he began work on what he thought was a marketable degree: a bachelor of business administration with a major in finance and a minor in real estate. At the time, housing markets were booming, and millions of dollars were being made in the investment and mortgage industries.

By Bruce Newman
San Jose Mercury News (MCT)

SAN JOSE, Calif. &8212; It took more than 30 years for the creators of Pez candy dispensers to give the little plastic figurines feet, and they never did get hands. But now the long arm of the Pez Candy Co. has reached all the way from Linz, Austria, into U.S. District Court, where it has slapped the tiny faces that fill the Museum of Pez Memorabilia with a lawsuit.

The legal broadside, which was filed in San Francisco last month, singles out a 7-foot-10 snowman, built especially for the Burlingame, Calif., museum, that has been recognized by the Guinness record keepers as the world's largest Pez dispenser. Pez seeks to have the snowman melted down.

And, says the museum's newly hired lawyer, the company is demanding that the museum's "curators," Gary Doss and wife Nancy Yarbrough Doss, turn over all profits from the Pez shrine's 14 years in business.

"From a branding perspective, I think Pez should embrace the Dosses and the museum, instead of trying to attack them," said Rodger Cole, the Mountain View-based trademark attorney from Fenwick & West LLP.

Fat chance.

By Jerry Large
The Seattle Times
(MCT)

A boy and a girl kiss.

She will be thinking, maybe, about how much he likes her or how much she likes him.

He will not be thinking, at least not with the part of the brain that controls higher functions. A scan of that part of the brain would show a "Gone Fishing" sign in the window.

Today let's focus on girls and a talk JoAnn Deak gave for parents at The Northwest School on Capitol Hill.

By Les Blumenthal
McClatchy Newspapers (MCT)

WASHINGTON — In Washington state, oysters in some areas haven't reproduced for four years, and preliminary evidence suggests that the increasing acidity of the ocean could be the cause. In the Gulf of Mexico, falling oxygen levels in the water have forced shrimp to migrate elsewhere.

Though two marine-derived drugs, one for treating cancer and the other for pain control, are on the market and 25 others are under development, the fungus growing on seaweed, bacteria in deep sea mud and sea fans that could produce life-saving medicines are under assault from changing ocean conditions.

By Gregory Karp
The Morning Call (Allentown, Pa.) (MCT)

Community colleges can be a great bargain and a good start toward a four-year degree. But a common stumbling block is the sometimes tricky transfer to a four-year college or university.
Done wrong, a transfer can waste money and cause undue hassle, experts said.

"Two years and two years can be a smart choice if you do your homework and make an informed choice," said Susan Weir, an assistant vice provost at the University of South Carolina and author of the book "Transitions: A Guide for the Transfer Student." "It can be counterproductive if you just take classes without any guidance or plan in place."

By Alejandro Samaniego, Courier Staff Writer

As the 2008-2009 school year comes to an end, many people just look forward to summer as a way to relax, catch up on lost sleep, and most importantly have fun. That is the stereotypical summer, however does that accurately represent the actual students and teachers summer? I interviewed two students and one teacher from Logan to find out what they are actually going to be doing over summer, and exactly how much they truly will miss the school year.

Question: What about the 2008-2009 school year will you miss the most?
Kristine Le, sophomore, said, "I'm going to miss my friends that are graduating this year because although I will see them from time to time, it will never be the same. I'll also miss this years tennis season because I made varsity this year and it brought me closer to my team."