Spring Play 2010

"I love scrapes. They are the only things that are never serious."

The IGA Players and their director Mr. Joe Sears are pleased to announce that they plan to bring another noted performance to the Lion's Theatre this Spring. The Importance of Being Ernest is Oscar Wilde's most beloved comedy, full of delightful mix ups and laughable scrapes. This "trivial comedy for serious people" centres around two gentlemen named Jack and Algy, and their respective love interests Gwendolen and Cecily, as they navigate courtship in Victorian England while keeping their ideals and scandalous reputations intact. The Players will be bringing this delightful play to IGA on the 16th, 17th and 18th of April. Your presence would be an honour!

Cast List

John Worthing, J.P. -- Angus McLure
Algernon Moncrieff -- Zach Porter
Rev. Canon Chasuble, D.D. -- Ethan Mitra
Merriman, Butler -- Max MacDonald
Lane, Manservant -- Max MacDonald
Lady Bracknell -- Nina Blythe
Hon. Gwendolen Fairfax -- Sarabeth Flowers
Cecily Cardew -- Charlotte Pratt
Miss Prism, Governess -- Emily Yount
Understudy (Cecily Cardew)/Prompter -- Caroline Elliot (read more)

Inspired By One

The first day of school, 2009-2010. Students are trickling into the multipurpose room at I--, enthusiastically greeting old friends. New students stand to one side, shyly wondering where they have landed. A few of the "old timers" seek out the new students and introduce themselves. Everyone from Kindergarten to 12th grade is fresh and bright eyed, wondering what the new year has in store. Chattering, everyone slowly finds their seats. Suddenly, an Asian looking man they have never seen before bounds up on stage. He introduces himself as the new secondary principal and lays out his main goal for the year: that students would take advantage of every opportunity to do good. The interested students shrug. “He seems like a great principle, but we will have to wait and see.”

For any student of I--, it is impossible not to have noticed Mr. L: He walks the halls talking to students, he gives announcements at chapel, and he monitors our behavior at lunch. Even though he has only been at our school for little under one semester, the students have already felt the impact of his presence. His spiritual as well as academic leadership has left a favorable impression with students, parents, and staff. How well do we really know our principal, however?

Mr. L was born in Korea, but moved to Los Angeles when he was a year old. He grew up in a Christian home and accepted Christ when he was in 5th grade, although he admits that he is still learning how to live for Him. He grew up on the “streets” of LA, which he said, “gave me a good exposure to different challenges.” His growing up experience showed him that God wanted him to work in the inner city as a teacher. In fact, because of his calling to work in the inner city, he had no concept of wanting to work overseas!

All this changed when he spent a year teaching English in Korea, an experience he enjoyed immensely. Then, while working at an English camp in Central Asia, God used a mentor to change his thinking. This mentor cornered Mr. L and convinced him that God had a place for him working overseas. He taught Social Studies at B---- Academy for a number of years before coming to our school, although he has visited Turkey a number of times. On one visit, a parent at our school said, “Don’t forget us!” a statement that stuck with him. Up until this past March, he had been planning to go to Nepal, but his plans fell through. At the last minute, he accepted a position here at our school.

He has said that his goal for this year is learning and growing—in character and in his understanding of people. He has a few plans for the school, which are either in the works or in talks. He already has plans for our spring service project underway, where 11 students in two teams will go to Romania and Bulgaria to serve. He is also talking about instituting a strong student government. “I want students to take ownership of the school,” he said. However, he is mainly trying to learn about our school and seek the Lord’s will for us.

When asked how I-- had blessed him, he praised the graciousness of the staff and students…and the Turks he meets. He said the best way we as students could serve him is to share our perspectives and insight with him. Mr. L’s love of people is evident in the way he interacts with those around him. The thing he would like to have put on his tombstone is: "inspired by One, he inspired many." Christ’s inspiration in his life is evident; we have no doubt that he will leave his mark on our school as well.

Newspaper Info

I have two lists which will hopefully be helpful for the whole newspaper staff. The first one is a list of sections and the articles therein. The second is a list of everyone in our class and the articles they are writing.

List 1:
Campus News--page 1-3
1. Mr Lee Interview(s)
2. ASCI Honour Choir
3. Internship
4. Spring Service Project
5. Spring Play
6. Awards
7. Elementary News
8. Secondary News
9. Hoedown (Announcement)
10. House News

World News--page 4
1. Political Cartoons (Putin/Medvedev, Health care, Housewives)
2. Russian Elections
3. Iranian Elections
4. Obama
5. North Korea--currency
6. Turkey--IMF

Features--pages 5-9
1. Fairy Tales (Rachel, Joe, Char)
2. Cultural Differences (Rachel, Char, Jen, Eung Ho)
3. Cartoons
4. Agony Aunt
5. Reviews (Tim Yan--book, Char--movie, Sarah--music)
6. Embarrassing moments
7. Humour ("Mr. Mee", cartoons)

Editorial--pages 10-12
1. "Two Way Respect" -Joe
2. RE Class Editorial-Rachel
3. Facebook-Sarah
4. Open campus-Tim Yan
5. Flip flop rule-Jen
6. PDA-Joy
7. Facebook stats

Sports--pages 13-14
1. Ankara trip-predictions
2. Jesse's interview
3. Baseball article
4. Floorball article
5. Additional basketball articles

Classifieds--pages 15-16
1. "Dating Service"
2. Fillers- Sudoku? Riddles?
Classifieds team needs to finalize ads/classifieds!

Photos/Layout
1. Picture of editors and picture of whole teams
2. Check with section editors for pictures needed.

List 2: (note: if it is asterisked, you already wrote it.)

Tim Yan-
1. Campus News: Awards
2. Features: Book review*
3. Editorial: Open Campus*

Joe-
1. Editorial: Two Way Respect*
2. Features: Fairy Tale*
3. Features/Humour: "Mr. Mee"*
4. Sports: Basketball

Jesse-
1. Sports: Interview*
2. Sports: Baseball article
3. Classifieds!

Rachel-
1. World News/Politics: Obama
2. World News/Politics: Iranian election
3. World News/Politics: Russian election
4. Features: Fairy Tale*
5. Features: Cultural Differences*
6. Editorial: RE article*

Eung Ho-
1. Features: Cultural Differences*
2. Features: Embarassing Moments*
3. Editorials: Facebook article*

Char-
1. Campus News: Spring Play
2. Campus News: Elementary News
3. Features: Cultural Differences*
4. Features: Review*
5. Features: Fairy Tale*

Sarah-
1. Campus News: Honour choir
2. Features: Review
3. Features: Embarrassing Moments*
4. Editorials: Facebook*
5. Classifieds
6. Campus News: House News

Sunny-
1. Campus News: Spring Service Project
2. World News/economics: North Korean currency
3. World News/economics: Turkey-IMF
4. Features: Embarassing Moments
5. Sports: Floorball

Paul-
1. Features: Review
2. Features: Agony Aunt
3. Editorial: Facebook
Photos/Layout

Joy-
1. Editorials: PDA
2. Editorials: Facebook
Photos/Layout

Jen-
1. Features: Cultural Differences
2. Editorial: Flip flop rule
3. Features: Movie Review

Movie Review: (500) Days of Summer

2009 has been a notable year for major action/sci-fi blockbusters, such as GI Joe: Rise of the Cobra, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Terminator Salvation and the latest instalment in the Star Trek movie series. However when looking over Hollywood's output for the year, the real gems are in the less flashy, smaller budget films that do more than mindlessly entertain. (500) Days of Summer, Director Marc Webb's first feature film endeavour, is one such film. The movie is creative, artistic, witty, and surprisingly down-to-earth without being depressingly realistic.

It is a story of boy meets girl, as the opening narration informs us, but it also makes an important disclaimer: it is not a love story. The film is told from the point of view of Tom Hanson, a young aspiring architect who abandoned his dream and makes a living working at a greeting card company. Tom is ardently devoted to the idea of true love, and lives his life in expectation of "The One." The movie begins when Tom meets the pretty, witty and unconventional Summer Finn, who most decidedly does not believe in true love and is not interested in tying herself down. Despite that, Tom falls in love with Summer and the movie chronicles the 500 days he has with her. The story is relayed to us in a nonlinear manner, often showing us the effect before the cause, depicting not only the relationship of Summer and Tom, but also the transformation of Tom's views toward romance.

(500) Days of Summer is an attempt at an honest portrayal of romance in the modern world, and captures the raw pain of rejection extremely well. The disclaimer is justified: the movie doesn't end with a wedding or reconciliation between the two lovers. Yet I left the theatre with high spirits and even after watching it again, found the film enormously enjoyable. This may be because of the wonderful fusion of honest storyline, clever cinematography, witty dialogue, and an exceptional soundtrack. Marc Webb brings many of the elements he picked up while directing music videos to heighten the artistic factor of the movie. He willingly suspends reality to make a point quite a few times, and I think it is far more effective than many other tricks directors have tried. Interesting moments, like a musical-esque dance scene, a play on a depressing French film, even a split screen portraying Tom's expectations versus reality add a new dimension to the film.

The characters really breathe life into it, however. Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel who play Tom and Summer, respectively, both give wonderfully whimsical but realistic performances. They are both nice looking and intelligent, but do not come across as larger than life. They are very credible in their roles, and have wonderful chemistry. They are also joined by a group of delightful minor characters, such as Tom's hard-drinking foolish friend McKenzie, and his precocious little sister, Rachel. The minor characters are not meant to be taken seriously, but they liven up the story and add perspective.

"Robin is better than the girl of my dreams: she's real." Spoken by a minor character, that line is one of the most memorable from the movie. "That to me is this movie in a nutshell," said main actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt. "I think it's so spot on." (500) Days of Summer shows the audience, through Tom, that while love, destiny, and soul mates are wonderful things to believe in, you can't let your fantasies cloud your view of reality. This movie stands out, not just from the traditional "chick flick" genre, but from most of the films I've seen. It uses techniques that we don't often expect when going to the theatre. It is light-hearted and amusing, while also posing serious questions about how we perceive love. Few movies have done what this movie has done, and even fewer have done it this well.

Sports Writing: Turkey Tackles American Football

Any visitor to Turkey knows that Turks love their sports. Few things breed more enmity or, conversely, bind more strongly than deep seated allegiances to the popular sports teams. Football, especially, is so popular that some fear to leave their houses on a game night between rival teams. However recently a new kind of Football has appeared in Turkey, one more familiar to citizens of the USA. In its brief history, American Football has stayed the heart and soul of American sports, but gained little popularity elsewhere in the world. However, the game is beginning to sprout up unexpectedly in Turkey as well. Zane P---- is assistant coach and manager to the Yıldız University Stallions, one of the few Istanbul Teams.

Q: How did American Football get started in Turkey?
A: About twelve years ago a young American man, who was also a former Football player, named Rob S---- was living in Turkey for two years. He began informally teaching the game to a group of young men attending Boğazıcı University. The game caught on at the university and from there began spreading to other universities in the city.

Q: How widespread is the game now?
A: Now there are 30 teams in almost every part of Turkey, divided into two levels much like our Division 1/Division 2 system in the States. American Football is now officially recognized by the Turkish Sports Federation, which regulates the games and provides referees.

Q: How did you personally get involved?
A: A guy in the gym where I lift weights began playing for the Yıldız team, and invited me to join! There are no eligibility rules, so even a 50 year old foreigner can play on the team. I declined, but was soon asked by the players to coach the team, totally based on the fact that I am American and grew up watching the sport. I served as interim head coach for a while, until I could find a full time coach with more experience.

Q: What was the condition of the team when you first became involved?
A: [laughs] The first time I ever saw them play, my analysis was that they only had problems with running the ball, throwing the ball, catching the ball, kicking the ball, blocking and tackling. Other than that they were fine!

Q: What is the general level of play you've seen from the Turkish teams.
A: Because the sport is so new and not very well known, no one here starts playing until they are in college, unlike the USA where they start from an early age. So the level of play is very low compared to US teams: a good high school team in the States could beat any team in the League. But they really enjoy it, and they aren't playing for the glory: unlike in the States, you don't gain social status from playing football. So they only play for the fun of it.

Q: What are the biggest challenges in coaching?
A: The lack of experience from the players, the lack of good practicing facilities and the poor physical condition of the guys: many have issues with weight, either being overweight or having the slight soccer-player's physique which isn't heavy enough for football, and almost all of them smoke. Also, we have difficulty getting equipment, and the reffing is extremely low quality. We once had a five hour game because the refs didn't know what to do, so they stopped the clock and deliberated between every single play.

Q: Especially considering Turkey's fanatical love of soccer, what attitudes toward American Football have you seen.
A: Well, the players love it! But again, it's not very popular--many people haven't even heard of it. We never have any spectators at games. Plus, many new players have a really hard time with the concept of tackling in the game: they are conditioned to think in terms of soccer and fouling penalties. But overall, those who are introduced to the sport, love playing it.