This Year Newsweek Magazine Top Ten Stories

In Photos Man of the Year of the Year

George H. W. Bush, Barack Obama, George

W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Jimmy Carter
pose in the Oval Office after their Presiden-
tial lunch January 7th, 2009.

The Last Word

Honest Thoughts from a Student
About the Cover
January 7, 2009 was a very
special day in White House
history, on the 7th President-Elect Barack
Obama had lunch at the White House with Presi-
dent George W. Bush, and former Commanders-
in-Chief Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush and
Bill Clinton. This grand meeting was of course
held in the Oval Office, and was the first meeting
of all the living current and ex-presidents since
1981. The men’s ages ranged from Obama, 47,
to Carter, 84, with a combined total of 24 years
of presidential experience. The meal and chatting
between the presidents lasted 90 minutes. Bush
told Obama, “We want you to succeed... we care
deeply about this country. And to the extent we
can, we look forward to sharing our experiences President-Elect Obama said, “I just want to thank the President for
with you.” An insider said, “They had a wide- hosting us. This is an extraordinary gathering. All the gentlemen here
ranging discussion on many different issues fac- understand the pressures and possibilities of this office, and for me to
ing the United States, and they all look forward have the opportunity to get advice, good counsel and fellowship with
to remaining in contact in the future.” Bush made these individuals is extraordinary, and I’m very grateful to all of them,
it obvious that he was delighted to host the lunch but again, thank you, Mr. President, for hosting us.”
and even thanked Barack for attending. “I want to
thank the president-elect for joining the ex-presi-
dents for lunch,” Bush said, even though he’s not
quite a member of the club yet.
Barack’s inauguration will be held Tuesday, January 20.

Table of Contents
1 About the Cover
2 Letter to the Editor

?
4 Letter to the Editor
5-6 My Turn
7 Perspectives
7 Toon Time
8 Person of the Year
9-10 This Year in Photos
YOU could be featured in our
11-12 Top 10 Stories of the Semester next issue! Submit your stories
or photos to:
13 The Last Word www.Newsweek.com

1 NEWSWEEK | JANUARY 15, 2009

 Letter to the Editor
Everyplace we go, there are a different set
of rules, the location and culture that we are in shapes what we say
and do. For example, if you are in the Vatican, you aren’t going to run
around the place in jean shorts and flip flops and tank top eating popcorn.
Instead, you would be dressed nicely and strolling around looking at the
surroundings and trying not to make too much of a disturbance.
Such is the case in Junior “Arnold” Spirit’s life.
Junior is a young boy who lives on an Indian reservation in Washington state.
Junior is the smartest boy on the reservation and the school he is going to is
not presenting him with a challenge. Wellpinit was a place where Junior was
around people he fit in with, other Indians. These surroundings came with their
own set of rules.
Some of these rules included “If somebody insults you, then you have
to fight him, if your mother or father beats up somebody, then that person’s son
and/or daughter will fight you, you must always pick fights with the sons and/
or daughters of any white people who live anywhere on the reservation,” and Jon Meacham, Editor of
the saddest one, “in any fight, the loser is the first one who cries” (Alexie 61). Newsweek.

Directions for Writing a Let-

ter to the Editor:
Write a 4 paragraph
letter expressing your views
on a subject and stating
what causes the problem or
topic to be the way it is.
Give specific examples from
published literature regarding
what you are talking about.
Make sure to suggest some
way to help resolve or de-
crease the intensity of the
problem. If you want, be
extra creative and add a
picture!
Just another one of the “rules”
Junior has to follow.
Thanks,
This set of rules applied to those living on the reservation whom Junior The Newsweek Team
interacted with every day. When Junior transferred to Reardon, a primarily
white school outside the reservation, Junior didn’t immediately realize that the
rules had changed. Junior got into a fight without thinking that it wasn’t the
“normal” thing to do. Junior was immediately thrown into a new social world
and forced to learn the new rules associated with it. If only people would write
an official rule book of each place and social world, maybe then Junior would
have been better off.

JANUARY 15, 2009 | NEWSWEEK 2

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 Letter to the Editor
You live in a neighborhood where you are
scared every time you walk outside. You are
simply scared that somebody close to you or even yourself will get
killed or harmed. You live in the Chicago projects, in a “four-bed-
room apartment had become their fallout shelter.” (Kotlowitz 26).
There is no one but your family that you can really trust. Most
kids don’t even have that. This is the life that Pharoah and Lafeyette
Rivers are growing up in. A childhood that really isn’t a childhood. Even
their mother, LaJoe agrees that they are not children, the Chicago proj-
ects stole that from them a long time ago. “But you know, there are no
children here. They’ve seen too much to be children.” (Kotlowitz x). The
world that the Rivers family is in is not fair to anybody. They are caught
in this social world that limits kids hopes and dreams. Most “normal”

children have dreams of being things such as astronauts or veterinarians

when they grow up, kids in the Chicago project dream of much smaller,
more attainable things, because they have been shown that dreams nor-
mally don’t come true whether or not you like it. “If I grow up, I’d like to
be a bus driver.”(Kotlowitz x). Even in that quote Pharoah shows that he
doesn’t even know if he will grow up. Where he lives, there is no telling
when or where you will end your life and make it impossible for you to
“grow up”. Somebody needs to go to the Children of the projects and
show them that there is a larger world out there where people are good
and dreams can be realized.

By Concerned Ex-Chicago Resident

JANUARY 15, 2009 | NEWSWEEK 4

My Turn
My latest paycheck comes into
my bank account and I can only
think of purchasing one thing,
cameras.
By Liz Lockhart
For years, since I was in 6th grade,
I have been known to my classmates as the girl
with the camera. I started liking photography at
a very young age. I would always have a dispos-
able camera or a Polaroid camera with me to snap
photos of my friends doing funny things or to
take pictures of family members to last through
the years so that we could remember what we
used to look like and who used to be around.
As a child my most popular subjects were my
younger sister and the family pet.
In 2003 I purchased my first digital camera. It
was a point and shoot with a 1.5 inch screen and a 2x
digital zoom. It was a 2 megapixel camera and I thought
it was the greatest thing ever created. I ran all around
school, being a 6th grader and taking pictures of all my
classmates in interesting poses. This was before MyS-
pace and Facebook became popular so mostly the pic-
tures were just for me. I was the only kid with a digital
camera in my class, and I was so proud. I began archiving
all the photos I took and burning them off to CDs for
people to enjoy on their own, I was a source of informa-
tion and entertainment for a lot of my classmates. I was
the one with the technology that was far beyond anything
they were dealing with at the time.
I stayed with that camera until December of
2005. In those two years digital cameras had improved
immensely and cameras were then being sold with re-
tractable lenses, optical zoom, up to 5.5 megapixels, 2.5
inch screens and many features. I decided that the cam-
era that I had since 2003 was no match for these new and
improved cameras.
I saved and saved and with some financing
through my mother I was able to purchase a Canon Pow-
erShot SD450. That was my pride and joy for a long
time. I got it the night before a big event at school at
which I had been asked by the teacher to take pictures
during.
5 NEWSWEEK | JANUARY 15, 2009
In 2005 MySpace had started to pick up and digital
photo printers were becoming the new big thing and so
it made sense for me to document the event with digital
pictures.
The event arrived and I was like a child, just
bouncing around from one group to the next taking pic-
tures and enjoying making people laugh at the moments
I had captured them in. I
loved having the “new
toy” that nobody but me
knew how to use. I had
something to myself that
was my thing. Photogra-
phy was becoming my
thing.
Everything re- The picture that started it
ally clicked on July 21, all...
2006. I was at Blue
Ridge Beach with a bunch of friends and took a photo
of the sunset. I thought this photo was just “good”, but
my peers and parents thought otherwise. People were
constantly asking for this photo so they could print it or
use it as a screensaver or background on their computer.
I was shocked that such a picture from my camera could
be getting this much attention. This was the event in
which I started to believe that photography could be a
big thing for me, a way for me to express myself and
enjoy doing something that other people enjoyed look-
ing at later.
After that and through all of freshmen year I
took pictures of everything, and when I say everything,
I mean it. I have pictures archived on my computer
from everything from tradition week to Matt Haines
drawing a sombrero on the chalk board in Sr. Brunelle’s
Liz in her “picture taking” pose.
 I had become a camera nerd. I When I got the XTi in the mail I was so ex-
had researched extremely hard cited! I continued taking pictures of abosoloutley
and decided that it was time for everything and
another upgrade. I wanted a Can- I loved being
on Rebel XTi 10.2 MP DSLR. I able to play
wanted a camera with a detach- around with
able lens and a professional look functions and
and feel. The XTi was the most meters that I
cost-effective option for me. didn’t even
As I ogled the camera, I saved understand.
The Space Needle and saved, and kept shooting with It was at that
the camera I still had. I submitted photos to Voices, “Disconnected” point that pho-
my school’s literary magazine. They accepted 3 pho- tography became serious for me. That year, I got
tos of mine and printed them in the magazine for that press and photo passes to Bumbershoot from the
year. I was so excited to be published for the first school newspaper. I felt that I had received the high-
time! I kept saving and saving, by that time pretty est honor a high school photographer cold receive. I
much all of my friends knew that I really wanted this got free passes to the entire festival for 2 people and
camera. Then came my birthday. was able to go into restricted areas, all because of my
By April, when my birthday rolled around love and skill having to do with using a camera.
I had saved a little over Everything has been uphill from there. I con-
$500 for this new cam- tinue to use my XTi, and I have expanded my lens
era. I only had $350 left collection so that I can shoot pretty much anything
to save! I had a birthday I want exactly how I want it. I have replaced my
party that year, and when point and shoot from 2005 with a 2008 model that
friends asked me what I performs great! I am really happy with my photog-
wanted for my birthday raphy and the thing I can do with a camera and with
I replied to them by tell- post production of photos. Shooting is a time for me
ing them the story of to relax and have fun, knowing that what I am creat-
saving for the DSLR. ing is mine and that in someone’s eyes it may even be
That birthday I received great.
about $400 total towards Anyone can be a good photographer, it just
the purchase of my new takes patience, practice, and the knowledge of what
Leavenworth
camera! I bought the is going on within the camera and with your sub-
camera with help from ject. I encour-
my friends. I think that is the best way to do some- age everyone
thing, with help from your friends. to try it out!
Who knows,
you may enjoy
going down
the same road
I did, falling in
love with the
art.

Liz’s Pho-
tography: Candles found at Seafood Fest 2007
lockhartliz.blogspot.com

More Recent Photography

JANUARY 15, 2009 | NEWSWEEK 6
Perspectives
“Take your hope, and go somewhere where other
people have hope” (Alexie 41).
Math teacher, Mr. P on the fact that Junior needs to get
off the reservation and try to embrace his true potential.
“If I grow up, I’d like to be a bus driver.”
(Kotlowitz x).
Young dreamer, Pharoah on his dreams, the dreams of a
boy living in the Chicago projects.
“Every book is a mystery. And if you read all the
books ever written it’s like you’ve read one giant
mystery. And no matter how much you learn, you
just keep on learning there is so much more you
need to learn.” (Alexie 97).
Junior’s Friend, Gordy on his love for books and reading.
“There are a lot of people in the projects who
say they’re not gonna do drugs, that they’re not
gonna drop out, that they won’t be on the streets.
But they’re doing it now. Never say never.”
(Kotlowitz 29).
Lafayette on how all the people around him always say
they will be good people but everybody ends up falling
into the same mold.
“Traveling between Reardan and Wellpinit, be-
tween the little white town and the reservation,
I always felt like a stranger. I was half Indian in
one place and half white in the other.”
(Alexie 87).
Junior on how he feels when he travels off the reservation
to the white school just outide it. Alienated.

“I feel good not understanding.” (Kotlowitz 280).
Pharaoh on how he likes to hide behind the fact that he is
still a kid and that he doesn’t want to grow up.
“We’re gonna die one way or another by killing
or plain out.” (Kotlowitz 51).
James to Lafeyette showing he has lost all hope.
“But you know, there are no children here.
They’ve seen too much to be children.”
(Kotlowitz x).
Mother of Pharoah, LaJoe on how children living in
the Chicago projects have seen too much pain and suffer-
ing to still be children at heart.

Toon Time
President-Elect Barack Obama
has promised his two daughters that when they
move into the white house that they will be getting
a dog. Adoption groups all over the country have
been pushing the fact that the Obamas should adopt
a dog rather than buying one from a breeder. This
way they are helping an animal in need. The Ameri-
can Kennel Club has taken a poll and the public has
decided that the Obamas should choose a Poodle as
their breed of choice for their presidential pet. White
House Chief floral designer Nancy Clarke is fully
prepared to begin taking care of the new presidential
pet after taking care of Barney for many years. Will
the new addition to the Obama family be a Poodle?
I guess only time will tell. This comic is funny be-
cause it depicts Obama trying to pick out his new pet
purely based on looks.
Update: January 11, 2009: Obama has announced
the new pet will be a Labradoodle or a Portuguese
Water Hound.
Story From Issue Dated: Dec 1, 2008
NEWSWEEK | JANUARY 15, 2009
7
 Person of the Year
Criteria: To be nominated for person of the
year, a person must show extreme helpfulness
or care towards a group of people or persons.
This can include taking care of people, donat-
ing to charity, and fighting for people’s rights.

The 2008 person of the year

is LaJoe Rivers, an impoverished
mother of eight children struggling to sur-
vive living in the Henry Horner Homes,
a violent Chicago housing project.
LaJoe was nominated and won person of
the year because of her outstanding and sincere
dedication to her eight children, some of which
have been in and out of jail a few times. LaJoe’s
counterpart is a good for nothing druggie who does
not set a good role model
for his children. LaJoe
and her family live in the
Henry Horner Homes, a
housing project in a very
violent area of Chicago.
Conditions are ex-
tremely disgusting
Henry Horner Homes and bad. Windows
and walls are either
not there or are bro-
ken, appliances always have special “tricks” to
make them work, and the heating system is a bit
less than ideal. LaJoe gets through the months be-
cause she receives welfare checks that she uses to
buy groceries for her family. She cares a lot about
her children, and a lot of times ends up caring for
a good number of other children at Henry Horner
when their parents either can’t or won’t.
LaJoe and two of her sons,
Lafayette and Pharoah.
One common trait of children living in the
Chicago projects is that they mostly at one time or
another end up in court or even jail. Most of the
time the mother of the child in question does not
show up for the child’s court date. LaJoe makes
sure that she is always present when any of her
children have to go in to court for any reason. She
is there to make sure that they are treated properly
and that nothing else bad happens while they are
there that is completely uncalled for.
The sole reason LaJoe is receiving this
award, is because she has always been there for
her children when other mothers have not, and she
has been there for the children whose mothers just
don’t care.

JANUARY 15, 2009 | NEWSWEEK 8

 THIS YEAR
A C

B
D

C
D

C
B

Photos:
A=Oct 6, 2008; B=Nov 10, 2008
9 NEWSWEEK | JANUARY 15, 2009 C=Nov 17, 2008; D=Jan 12, 2008
 IN PHOTOS
C B

C
A

C
B
A

C
C

A JANUARY 15, 2009 | NEWSWEEK 10

 Top Ten Stories of the Semester
Obama Wins Presidential Election - On November 4, 2008 America
voted on who should be our next president. The main candidates were Barack Obama
(D) and John McCain (R). Both Candidates were fully equipped and prepared to serve
the presidency. The one thing Obama used heavily to campaign is the word “Change”.
Obama promised to bring change to America that would be for the better. Obama was
elected president. This election was a huge milestone in American history because Ba-
rack Obama is an African-American. America elected its first African-American Presi-
dent, a change that is monumental for this country.

Invasion of Gaza - Over in the Middle East Israel and Palestine have been at
war for as long as many of us can remember. This year however, things escalated. The
Palestinians have decided that it is their time to take back Israel, a place that is considered
a holy land for number of religions. Previously both the Israelis and the Palestinians had
a truce that included a cease-fire order, a order under which they were trying to bring
peace and order back to their countries. However, recently Palestinians have decided
that peace is not good enough and they have invaded the Gaza Strip in Israel. Through
all the fighting many civilians have been killed and it is creating a world-wide concern
for the people of Israel.

America Enters into a Recession - Starting around June of 2008, the US

has slowly slipped into a recession. Stocks of all types have gone down drastically, and
consumer spending had reduced. For example from June to September consumer spend-
ing, which makes up two-thirds of the US economy, went down by 3.1 percent, the first
decline in spending since 1991. The big subject of the presidential campaigns became
“how to fix the economy”. People everywhere have been getting laid off from their jobs
and have been cutting back on spending immensely. Large companies such as WaMu,
Ford, GM have put in petitions to the government for a financial bailout. The recession is
included in the top 10 stories of the year because it affected everyone in the US, because
in some way, a change in spending habits affects everyone.

Global Warming - This year global warming was a huge topic of discussion. Cit-
ies across the entire world have experienced mild weather and climate changes. Even Se-
attle had experienced some out of the ordinary weather for the area. In Alaska and around
the North Pole, glaciers are constantly melting and pushing polar bears and penguins to
starvation and death because they don’t know how to adapt to the constantly shrinking
land that they normally take for granted. We as a planet need to step up our game and
start taking action to help save the animals and people of this earth and to make efforts
to try to stop global warming. This story is important because it effects the entire planet.

How the Republican Party Spent Donor’s Money - During the

heat of the Republican campaign, vice-president nominee, Sarah Palin was sent to Saks
5th Ave to get herself a new wardrobe. The Republican Party felt that this was a good
use of their money because Palin had to portray a certain image. An image they thought
had to cost $150,000. Donators to the campaign were quite upset when they found out
where their money was going. This is why this story is in the top 10. Republicans were
enraged because their hard (not not) earned money was being spent to dress up John Mc-
Cain’s Barbie doll.

11 NEWSWEEK | JANUARY 15, 2009

Proposition 8: Gay Marriage Banned in California - On Election
Day, voters chose to ban gay marriage in the state of California. This decision annulled
all the marriages that occurred when same-sex marriage was legal in California. People
against gay marriage stated that recognizing same-sex marriage would damage society,
and require changes to what is taught in schools regarding marriage. People against the
passing of the ban stated that it was unfair to ban same-sex marriage after it had been
proven that it was a good thing since California begun recognizing same-sex marriages
in early 2008. Strong supporters of the ban on gay marriage included groups of Roman
Catholics including the Knights of Columbus. This story is within the top 10 because
people fought so hard to gain respect and recognition for same-sex marriage and then it
all got taken away.
AIG Bailout Plan - Part of the American economy crisis had to do with AIG
(American International Group). AIG essentially went bankrupt and asked the federal
government for a $85 billion bailout. US negotiators drove a hard bargain and the Fed-
eral Government lent $85 billion to AIG, and the Feds will now get 79.9 equity stakes
in the insurer in the form of equity participation notes. This is a two-year loan that will
carry an interest rate of the London interbank rate plus 8.5 percentage points. This story
is included in the top ten because it is a extremely large financial issue and may end up
being a complete loss of money for the government and for the people of the US.

The Year of the Hybrid - Despite the recession the hype about hybrid cars
was one of the major topics this last year. Car companies were getting badmouthed for
creating “gas guzzlers” and so in response, car companies started coming out with bigger
hybrid vehicles. For example, Cadillac now makes a Hybrid Escalade, one of the largest
SUVs available. Hybrid vehicles such as the Toyota Prius can get up to around 40mpg
and the 2010 model is getting 50mpg, a record for the industry. This is included in the top
10 stories because soon enough, all we will be able to get is hybrid vehicles, and everyone
will be helping to make the earth a little bit greener.

I-1000 Passed in Washington State - Doctor Assisted Sui-

cide - With the election in November, Washington voters had the chance to vote on a
life or death issue, I-1000 or doctor assisted suicide. The bill passed with the voters in
Washington state, making it legal to ask your doctor to kill you if you so see fit. This bill
had some fine print that worried voters. The bill stated that a person can commit doctor
assisted suicide without telling their spouse or family. For example, if an elderly person
just decided one day that they didn’t want to live anymore and the doctor agreed it was
okay to let them commit doctor assisted suicide then that would be it. You would lose
your grandma or grandpa, with no warning. This decision of the Washington voters is
in the top ten stories because being able to kill yourself legally without tell any family
members is a very scary thing.
When It Pays to Recycle - In Everett, Massachusetts a company called Re-
cycleBank has started a program that pays residents to recycle. Special trash cans with
radio-frequency ID tags embedded in the containers communicate with special trucks that
weigh the recycling and then pay the resident for recycling a certain weight of materials.
The data regarding how much each household is recycling is posted on a website where it
is converted into points and ten redeemed for discounts at stores such as CVS, Starbucks,
and even on national brands like Coke. In Everett, where the program launched citywide
in July, the average household now recycles the equivalent of 830 pounds a year, up ten-
fold since the program launched. “The recycling buzz is out there,” says Everett Mayor
Carlo DeMaria. “It’s fun filling that thing up to the top.” This story is important because I
think that If RecycleBank expands to serve the entire country, a lot more people will start
to recycle and it will greatly reduce the amount of trash this country puts into landfills.

JANUARY 15, 2009 | NEWSWEEK 12

The Last Word
When signing up for classes
for the 2008-2009 school year, I signed up for
Social Issues in American Lit because I thought
that it would just all be about racism and ex-
cluding people and different cultures, I thought
it would be a lot of movie watching and that’s
about it. I was wrong, this class made me learn
about and examine the different social worlds
and situations that people can get into and how
they are fair or unfair and how they can best be
resolved if they are unfair.
I liked the books that we read as a class, I think
that they were a good variety of genre and covered some
important issues.
If we don’t pay attention to what is going on
now we could get ourselves in grave danger later on
because we did not learn from others mistakes. Espe-
cially the mistakes that are large enough to end up in the
public news.
This course taught me how to organize my
speeches better and how to be a better writer. I learned
that it is a bad thing to use a lot of “to be” verbs, and that
expressing yourself in the classroom is an okay thing to
do if it is called for. I learned that many different peo-
ple deal with a lot of the same issues regarding culture
clash, and that they all get over them in a unique way.
The important thing is to accept who you are and to try
to get yourself into the best situation possible, one that
is in your best interest.

Farewell,
Social Issues in American Literature

My favorite book of the course was “The Ab-

By Liz Lockhart
solutely True Diary of A Part-Time Indian”, I liked this
book because it was a quick read and it had a lot of
humor along with the pain and clash of social worlds in
Junior’s life. Junior was a good character to focus on Special Thanks to Ms. Alokolaro for helping
because he deals with a lot of issues in his head as well me through it all and supporting me no matter
as the ones in the world around him. He a very interest- how I was doing. Thank you for putting up with
ing boy, a true “part-time Indian.” my parents and their e-mails, and thank you for
I would recommend this course to a friend. I being a great teacher.
would recommend this course to people that have diffi-
culties with public speaking and organization. Making
the speech outlines force you to both be organized, and
learn better public speaking skills. This course would
also be good for someone who likes to express their
opinions on an issue rather than just holding it inside
like most Language Arts classes require you to do. I
really enjoyed this class.
Young people around the world should pay at-
tention to social issues and current events because we
may not be the generation that is making all the deci-
sions in America right now, but our time is soon. Supporting Catholic High School
Students

13 NEWSWEEK | JANUARY 15, 2009

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