A Santa Fe County sheriff’s car sits parked in front of the ATC building. An eighth grade student is escorted out of the front office in handcuffs. He is loaded into the back seat of the parked car. After a moment, the car drives away, the student inside.

On Feb. 10 Gabriel Coles-Christensen, the latest in a recent string of ATC drug busts, was taken away. “[He] got caught with seven grams of marijuana, and got taken away by the poepoe,” says sophomore Andrew Congdon. “Go Gabe!” he remarks after learning it was a sheriff that arrested Coles-Christensen.

As to the events that led up to the day, Noah Kramer, an eighth grader, says he saw the entire thing. “I was sitting at the lunch table with him, and Ms. Lumley walked over to him and asked to search him;” he says, “he had about an ounce of weed on him, and maybe a knife. So he was pulled away.”

Some may remember Coles-Christensen’s name coming up in connection with defacement of historic landmarks on the Plaza, as well as an earlier incident at ATC that may or may not have been drug-related.

Coles-Christensen’s case is not the first like it at this school. Although every school in Santa Fe deals with drug problems, ATC has dealt with three illegal substance issues in the span of two weeks. On Feb. 3, two similar instances occurred. Another student was suspended on charges of marijuana possession; meanwhile two other students whose identities have been withheld were allegedly caught under the influence of psychedelic mushrooms.

“Two [boys] came up to me and they were all like, ‘we’re trippin’ so hard,’” senior Julia Pascual-Perez says about the two accused of being under the influence of mushrooms. “So I was like, ‘okay. Well don’t get caught.’ And apparently…they got caught.”

Because of the sensation surrounding these issues, there has been a sharp rise in rumors flying through the school: students’ attempts to understand the situation. “I heard people were smoking in the bathroom, and they were caught,” Kramer says, repeating a false rumor. Other rumors, such as who sold the psychedelic mushrooms to the two unidentified students, as well as rumors regarding the involvement of others in the ordeal, are unconfirmed.

What is known is how the two students accused of taking mushrooms were caught. In the students’ fourth period, another student had to keep the unidentified students calm as they were experiencing the full effect of the mushrooms or “tripping.” Two students had to hold one of the tripping students down. According to an anonymous source close to the situation, “because ya’ know, he was going crazy. It was the first time either of them had tripped; they’d never done anything like that before.

“And then ya’ know, [one student] was pulled out to go to a little group therapy session; something where you have to be personal and talk about your feelings…It was from then that everything went horrible. [One student] was caught. He said he didn’t have anything on him,” the anonymous source explains.

This seems to contradict a statement made by another source close to the situation, who also prefers to stay anonymous. “All I know is that they were accused of something, of possession,” the source says. “But what I do know is that they were suspended. Because apparently [one] had shrooms or something—supposedly they did find it.”

By law, the ATC administration cannot talk about the specific events. “Our society in general has an issue with marijuana, and schools are a reflection of the society,” says Principal Susan Lumley. “It’s no different here than in any high school in the United States.”

Dean of Students Jenny Mundy-Castle adds, “because we are small, we have the ability to make a difference and help students make better decisions.”

Also on Feb. 3, another student was reported as having drugs, as aforementioned. The student was found with marijuana. The student “brought marijuana to school. And I guess [the student] had a knife…too,” explains seventh grader Luke Antonius.

“And rolling paper,” adds eighth grader Dylan Black.

“I guess someone told on [the student], or something happened. They searched [the student], and…found…weed. [The student’s] on probation, and…went to court and…[was] suspended until I think Thursday,” Antonius continues.

Does this unusual frequency in drug scandals reflect a growing epidemic at ATC, or does it mean that the problem is being more accurately identified and caught by the staff? In Santa Fe, drug busts are not uncommon. In a larger school like Capital High School or Santa Fe High, one would expect events like this to occur with frequency. However, only time will tell whether ATC is developing a new problem, or working harder to defeat an existing one.

As everyone involved with the school knows, and as the paper has written about, the education at ATC has been a roller coaster. Not just from year to year, but from class to class, the level of academic rigor, as well as the effectiveness of the lessons, have been wildly different. Historically, it has not been uncommon for a student to experience a great class with a teacher who represents all that a teacher should in one period only to have a bad class with a teacher that is, shall we say, sub par the very next period.

At ATC, this has been an unquestionable issue; and one that needed addressing. However, we cannot simply think about the mismatched educational quality in the past tense. Rather, it is a problem that rears its head each day that students enter their classrooms.

Before I continue, I’d like to clarify that this is in no way intended to cast a blight on ATC’s teachers. As a whole, the teaching staff has proven to be professional, knowledgeable, supportive and skilled. I also do not want to give the impression that no progress has been made. Each year, the overall level of our educators has been improving. This year, perhaps as a result of the many new members of the faculty, the teachers have never been stronger collectively.

Despite the improvements, there remains a disparity, both in methods and content, between many classes.

In order to better illustrate this problem, let us examine a class that I consider to be one of the strongest. It can be awkward to single people out, but in this case, I feel it is appropriate to say that one of ATC’s assets is the Advanced Placement (AP) Government and Economics class taught by Jon Seyfried. While this class is only available to seniors, I feel that it illustrates many values and practices that all teachers, everywhere, should strive for.

Firstly is the rigor of the class. Despite the disagreement of many of the country’s high school students, classes should have a certain level of rigor, if for no other reason than to prepare students for the cold, unforgiving plunge that is life. However, rigor simply for the sake of rigor is neither a means nor an end. Instead, true academic rigor arises organically from the content of the class. In a class centered around the very functioning of our society, the rigor arises naturally out of the ideas that are studied and the analysis and synthesis of those ideas that ensues.

With perhaps the singular exception of prisons, schools are the last to evolve institutions in this country. Nowhere is this illustrated more clearly than by the mere fact that for centuries, students have sat at desks while a teacher lectures at the front of the classroom. For decades, students have worked out of textbooks, the graphics of which have improved, the content of which has not. And nowhere is this — shall we say traditional? — model of learning more beautifully broken than in Jon Seyfried’s classroom. Of course, there are lectures and a textbook: to remove them entirely would be all but impossible today. But in this Government class, Seyfried does something far more.

Instead of merely teaching a topic, talking about why it matters and ordering notes to be taken about said teaching and talking, Seyfried educates in a far more deep and effective way. In a lesson regarding the Cuban Missile Crisis, for example, instead of simply spending part of a class talking at a group of students, Seyfried will hand out a few sheets of paper. On these sheets are transcripts from people who were involved with the event; there are transcripts from American and Soviet officials, academics and leaders. After reading the transcripts, the information is synthesized as students perform an in-depth analysis. Through their own intellectual prowess and curiosity (and with a bit of Seyfried’s guidance), these students discover the Cuban Missile Crisis for themselves. What they learn is far beyond the perfunctory glance that they would receive in many classrooms. Not only do they make a substantive study of it, but they have discovered this information for themselves, which makes it far more valuable and memorable than “typical” methods.

In case the chunk of writing above did not make this clear, intellectual curiosity is not only encouraged in Seyfried’s classes but is required. The example above is just the proverbial tip of the iceberg. No matter in what area of study, Seyfried has created a curriculum, and accompanying environment, in which students delve into much greater detail than they normally would. What is most extraordinary about this situation, though, is that, many times, the students want to delve.

Putting his teaching style aside, there is something else for which Seyfried should be applauded. Never before in the history of ATC have all sections of a class been made AP sections. If there has been any AP offered at all in a subject, it has been limited to one section. In the 2011-2012 school year, though, if a senior is taking a Government class, it is AP Government.

There will, of course, be those students who do not believe that they have the ability to take such a class. Few will be correct. Because the course is required, Seyfried has fashioned a curriculum that does not punish those whose strength may not lie in conventional analysis. Instead, he has created a class that allows students to discover for themselves. Because of this, any who apply themselves, really and truly, can handle the class, despite the amount of work.

This acts as a gateway into another great quality of the class, namely its instructor’s accessibility. He is a teacher who is always available to help his students. Whether at lunch or on the weekend, Seyfried is willing to make sure, not only that all students are doing well, but are excelling. (This, we are happy to say, is a trait that is uncommonly prevalent among ATC teachers.)

Part of the title of this article is “case study.” In taking a small cross-section of a course that we consider to be of the highest caliber, I hope to be able to change other classes, and not just those at ATC, for the better.

It’s been six years since the release of Underworld: Evolution, the second Underworld movie, which continued the story of Selene the vampire.  Later, there came a prequel to all the movies. Then on Jan. 20, 2012 another Underworld movie premiered. Underworld: Awakening is the fourth installment in the series, and it wasn’t too shabby.

The movie was filled with action from the beginning, with Selene (Kate Beckinsale) running from gunfire and explosions. I could tell I was in for an action packed movie. It seemed that about 75 minutes of the 88 minute movie were just action and fighting.

This fourth installment wasn’t exactly up to par with the other movies in the series. It seemed to be more about the action instead of any actual story line. The whole story could be summed up in about two sentences and you would know everything that happened.

The action scenes were great though as where the 3D effects but I felt kind of shocked when it ended. As it ended my friends said, “wait…that was it? Why was it so short?” And we left, a disappointed group. I mean you’re paying about $13 for a 3D movie and then it’s only an hour and twenty minutes? That’s kind of a waste of money in my opinion.

My advice is to wait until it comes out on home video and rent it. Watch the movie on rental before adding it to your collection; make sure that you feel you would be getting your money’s worth.

[Underworld: Awakening is rated R for strong violence and gore and for some language.]

On Tuesday, Feb. 7 Santa Fe voters turned out to vote in a mill levy election. As the paper noted in an article before the election, the mill levy is a special property tax rate that can be given. As applied to ATC, the election will give ATC $317,697 in additional money.

3,844 voted in the election, 2,893 people voted yes, 951 voted no.

By state law, employees of schools or districts cannot ask people to vote a certain way in the election. Instead, the ATC and the Santa Fe Public Schools (SFPS) have urged people in the community to simply vote, while telling them all of the positive change that would come if the mill levy passed.

This election takes place every six years. However, this is the first year in which ATC will receive funds from it.

Although voter turnout was low on the 7^th, many members of the ATC community voted.

SFPS Superintendent Bobby Gutierrez said in a statement on the SFPS website “I am very grateful to our community for supporting our schools with this very important election.” She went on to say that “Approval of the 2-mill levy will allow us to continue to properly maintain our facilities, make some very significant technology upgrades, replace our worn-out activity buses, and allow each site to have some funds for furniture, equipment, technology and projects specific to individual school communities.”

The money from this mill levy can only be allocated for certain things. The main use that is barred by law is operations budget. This budget includes teachers’ salaries. The funds can be used for expenses such as facility restoration and improvement, security, technology and musical and athletic equipment.

One of the questions that was raised by this action and the circumstances that caused it was “What is the GC?” As a charter school, ATC is independently responsible for almost all of its operations. Because of their independence, charter schools are led by boards whose responsibilities include selection the principal, setting his or her salary, writing budgets and establishing and maintaining the school’s mission and vision.

When the GC gave control of ATC to SFPS, it suspended its Charter with the understanding that the Charter would be renewed and a new GC formed. In October, 2011 the parents and staff of ATC came to the school to elect the new council members.

The new GC consists of two ATC parents, two professional educators, two members of the community and one member with a financial background. The person in each category with the highest number of votes will serve for three years, the other for two.

The parents elected were Tannis Fox, mother of senior Ansel Carpenter and Gordon Lawrie, father of eighth grader Bridie Alexander-Lawrie; the professional educators are Kelly Horn and Leslie Fagre; the community members are Donna Grein and Martin Dryden, a member of the previous GC; the finance member is Mel Morgan, the former chief financial officer of SFPS.

The newly elected GC does not officially start governance of the school until the SFPS Board of Education (Board) restores the school’s Charter.

The GC held an organizational meeting on December 15, 2011. The GC elected Fox as its president, Grein as its vice president and Fagre as its secretary.

In a letter to the ATC community, the GC said “The intent of the new Council is to restore ATC’s charter.  In order to accomplish this, ATC needs to demonstrate to the SFPS that ATC can operate on its own.  We can only accomplish this with the efforts of ATC parents, students and faculty.” Currently, the GC is in training. It has begun work and discussion with the Board regarding reinstating of the Charter.

The previous GC was faced with controversy close to the end of last school year when it chose to not renew the contract of Ed Wood, ATC’s then-director. Among the complaints leveled by some parents were that the GC was attempting to micromanage the school and the director.

At the request of several parents, the SFPS conducted an investigation into the affairs of the school and released a report containing their findings and recommendations. The SFPS, headed by Superintendent Bobby Gutierrez, concluded that, among other things, the school’s finances had been misused. The report also recommended that the GC be reshuffled.

The new GC has been met with elation by Principal Susan Lumley, Dean of Students Jenny Mundy-Castle and Gutierrez and others. However, not everyone is satisfied. Emily Lucero, mother of freshman Sol Sanchez y Lucero was a candidate for GC seats now occupied by Fox and Lawrie. She says that she believes the new GC does not reflect the Spanish-speaking population at ATC. Lucero asked Lumley and Gutierrez that the elections be examined or invalidated. They decided not to take any action. Lucero also asked various members of the Board to examine the election, telling one that she had “been thwarted at every turn.” She believed that the GC did not reflect all aspects of ATC telling the superintendent in an email, “there are no people of color on the board at all. The situation needs to be addressed.” The Board decided against taking action.

In addition to the committees of the GC required by state law, the GC has established a committee to write GC bylaws, correcting many of the issues that there were with the old GC, a committee to formulate the school’s mission and vision and a committee to deal with the school’s lease and facility. The school’s lease costs more than $40,000 each month, more than twice an average lease for such a building. Lumley and others have expressed that the high cost of the building is one of the major reasons for ATC’s lack of supplies, clubs, sports teams and other things involved in the operation of the school.

Reporting contributed by Alana Culberson. 

By Zoë Tallada

Halloween, for most, consists of costumes, candy, haunted houses and frights. It is observed, or celebrated, all around the world. Halloween falls on October 31 every year. Some of the most common activities are trick-or-treating, carving pumpkins, costume parties, telling scary stories and going to “haunted” places.

Halloween has a long history. It is said to have started from a Roman feast honoring Pomona, the goddess of fruits and seeds, or from the Roman festival of the dead. It is also associated with the Celtic festival of Samhain, which was a Gaelic harvest festival that celebrated the harvest and summer’s end.

These celebrations have had many names. Halloween, as the name, first came into use in the 16^th century which was derived from All-Hallows-Even (All-Hallows-Eve), the evening before All Hallows Day, which is a Scottish version of the name.

There are many defining aspects of Halloween. Carving pumpkins, which is one of the most common and well-known traditions of Halloween, comes from the Irish and Scottish tradition of carving turnips. When the tradition of pumpkin carving was first introduced it was not specific to Halloween, it was just associated with the harvest. Trick-or-treating is another very common Halloween activity. This activity starts by the children ringing the doorbell and loudly saying “Trick or Treat?!” If treats were given they would move to the next house, but if they were not, the children would play a trick on the owner of the house until they got treats.

Trick-or-treating and costumes date back to medieval times. Costuming first became prevalent in the United States in the early 20^th century. In the 1930s, the first mass-produced costumes were made. Halloween today is based on costume related activities such as costume contests, parties and, of course, trick-or-treating.

Besides pumpkin carving, modern Halloween celebrations relate more to the harvest than most people realize. Candy corn is primarily available in the United States and Canada. It is made mostly of sugar and corn syrup. This candy is made to resemble an actual corn kernel, although it is about three times the size of a dried kernel, and is made of three colors yellow as the wider end, orange as the middle, and white at the tip, resembling the coloring of a kernel of corn. Candy pumpkins are also made out of sugar and corn syrup and they look like pumpkins. Caramel apples are also a very common treat found during the Halloween season. Other common ones are pumpkin pie, pumpkin seeds and other “novelty” candies in scary and Halloween themed shapes.

By Taylor Pilgrim

Tower Heist was a freakin’ great movie. Featuring Eddie Murphy and Ben Stiller, this movie was full of “lols.” I found myself “lolling” throughout the movie.

Now, it’s been a few years since Eddie Murphy has made a really good movie, which I’m sure people can agree with. Norbit was good and had some laughs but, come on, it was no Nutty Professor. This movie definitely shows Murphy making a comeback. Playing a stereotypical African American man, Murphy really gets into the character and manages to keep the Eddie Murphy tone of voice that everyone knows and loves, especially when a few foulmouthed words come out just like the good ol’ days before Eddie signed himself away to bad children’s films.

Ben Stiller, on the other hand, has always been known for making good movies. I mean, you can’t go wrong with a guy formulating a big plan to steal millions from a rich man who played a night security guard at a museum in which everything came to life. Ben Stiller is a good actor but I myself haven’t ever been one to get into his movies. This one was different. He had a strong character and pulled it off pretty well, especially in a scene of him beating an expensive one-of-a-kind Ferrari with a golf club.

The movie overall is very good. It’s got a good plot with several laughs and several very expensive cameo cars that you car lovers will appreciate. See this movie. It’s definitely worth the money.

By Raina Wellman

Since 1937, the Walt Disney Corporation has continually been making animations based on well-known fairy tales. Snow White is the original fairy tale princess. She is known for her red, blue and yellow costume, friendship with dwarfs and her extreme sweetness, caring and gullibility.

Snow White’s original story, which was later slightly changed by Disney, begins with her mother hoping her child is born with “skin as white as the snow, lips as red as blood and hair as black as ebony.” Soon after Snow White is born, a vain queen in possession of a magic mirror becomes jealous. According to her magic mirror, “Snow White is the fairest of all,” a distinction which the Queen wants. The Queen orders her huntsman to take Snow White into the woods and kill her. As proof, she tells the huntsman to bring back her lungs and liver. Instead, charmed by her beauty, the huntsman lets her go and brings back the lungs and heart of a wild boar.

Snow White, terrified by her close encounter with death, runs into the woods with some singing and galloping animals. She soon comes upon a very messy cottage. After cleaning it up, and falling asleep on one of the very small beds, Snow White finds is awoken by some dwarfs. Seven, to be exact. From this point on, Snow White takes on the role of a combination housewife-mother to the seven: Doc, Grumpy, Happy, Sleepy, Bashful, Sneezy and Dopey.

Soon, the Queen finds out that the huntsman has deceived her, and that Snow White is still alive and as fair as ever. Plotting to kill Snow White herself, the queen makes a poison apple and dresses up as a peddler. The gullible Snow White, trusting the peddler, takes a bite of the apple and dies. The miserable dwarfs put her “beautiful” dead body in a glass coffin, and mournfully leave her out in the woods. However, Snow White’s life is not yet over, a prince kisses her, practicing a form of necrophilia, and most obviously they live happily ever after.

The question is, why did Snow White let an extremely terrifying hag into her house and buy apples from her? Either Snow White is incredibly dim-witted or she needs major lessons in the art of being cunning and suspicious. Also, why did she move into the dwarfs’ home? If any other usual person came across a deserted home would they move in? Most likely, no. Then again, we’re not all exactly fairy tale princesses.

Imagine if Snow White were to live in today’s society. How many times do you think she would have been screwed over? In today’s culture, kindness and trust are things you have to earn. Snow White has kindness and trust for everyone, even a second after she has met them. Maybe this is why animals follow and sing with Snow White and they don’t with us. Maybe, if you, for example, wanted some animals to sing with, you should just change your lifestyle into one more like Snow White’s. I mean, who hasn’t wanted animals to prance around and sing with?

By Maheyo Tapp

Daniel Dumile, commonly known by his stage name MF DOOM, is an underground hip-hop artist. He was born in London, England and had a Trinidadian and Zimbabwean upbringing. Doom made his debut in 1988 as a part of his self-formed group KMD. He has been a prominent figure of the underground hip-hop scene for years before the loss of his younger brother and collaborator who died in a car accident, after which he went incognito

Doom is known both for his rhymes and his beats. This combination led to the release of his hip-hop instrumental box set entitled, Special Herbs: The Box Set Vol. 0-9.

The set features the instrumentals of many of songs and consists of three discs. Almost all of the 72 songs’ titles carry some relevance to the herbs, spices and condiments used to season and/or compliment food. Examples include: “Arrow Root,” “Benzoin Gum,” “Bergamot Wild,” “Four Thieves Vinegar,” “Jasmine Blossoms” and “Sumac Berries.” If one is bothered by the profanity of hip-hop vocals, but is partial to the beats that accompany them this assemblage of albums might be the one for you.

The beats are unconventional because of the incorporation of strange samples and subtleties, but include basic elements of hip-hop in terms of structure. The set of volumes 0-9 was released on January 24, in 2006 and only had 7,500 copies produced.

I highly recommend the listening of the songs on this set. However, the box set’s scarcity has resulted in a high price I recommend listening to individual songs before making any sort of investment. Because the purpose of these tracks was originally to keep rhythm, the songs are repetitive and occasionally monotonous. Aside from that, the collection is, in my opinion, the perfect balance and juxtaposition of hip-hop and elevator music.

By Taylor Pilgrim

Forza Motorsport 4 is the perfect game for all you car loving, car racing fans out there. Not only does the game feature over 1000 cars to choose from, but they are also fully tunable. From engine swaps to new rims, this game has it all.

This game features a new way to play by using Kinect, so that you can play just by simply pretending you’re holding a steering wheel and turning it. Using this sucks. You aren’t even doing anything when you use the Kinect. It automatically makes the car go for you and when you try to turn in the thin air it just simply does not work. It was a good idea but a failed one.

Thankfully “Turn 10” made up for it with the tuning system now being easier to tune your own cars. In the previous game, it took a genius to tune a car. Now it still takes some thought but it’s a lot more straightforward. People trying to make good drifting tunes can successfully make a car that will slide all over the place while still pumping out a nice 1000 horsepower.

Forza 4 features a new “Autovista” feature which allows you to explore the car inside and out in an incredibly realistic way. You can even listen to Top Gear’s Jeremy Clarkson go on one of his spiels about the car.

The online is great no matter how you want to play. Maybe you want to do some casual circuit races or maybe some quick drifts around Fujimi or perhaps your real goal is to screw up all the other players by ramming into them, causing them to lose their place or their points and listen to the sweet, sweet sounds of them screaming and raging their head off at you.

I would recommend this game to anyone who’s got an Xbox 360 and if you don’t have one then you better get one. Forza is one of the top franchises on the Xbox and it is also strictly for the Xbox and is definitely worth getting. Even if you aren’t a big car fanatic like me, you could still enjoy this game. Perhaps your dream car is in this game. Who knows, this might be the closest you can get to the real thing.