The Bluffer

December 17, 2014

The Bluffer - Red Bluff, CA

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Page 2 December 17, 2014 Staff Editorial Happy holidays everyone... Editorial Policy: Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the district, staff, or student body. We welcome signed letters to the editor. Names may be withheld upon request. We also reserve the right to edit submission based on length and/or clarity. THE BLU FFER STA FF Ryan Fisher Editor-in-Chief Ryan Fisher News Editors Lexi Pritchard Brianna Tackmier Opinions Editor Ceighlee Fennel Features Editor Tymberlyn Bealer Sports Editor Savannah Sutliff Topics Editor Rebecca Blanchard Editor-in-Chief (Vacancy) Advertising Director Alisa Pelanconi Adviser Cartoonist Karla Nowicki Juanita VanMeter Leslie Soto Staff Writers Josiah Vasey Kaylie Capps Jay Boone Juanita VanMeter Hailie Willey Opinions Rebecca Blanchard Brianna Tackmier A&E Editor A & E Editor Josiah Vasey Opinions Editor Commercialized Christmas adds cheer "I find that Christmas commercials help me get into the holiday season, keep my thoughts from straying too far from gilded Christmas trees, warm fires in the fireplace and fat schizophrenic elves." Kaylie Capps Staff Writer Editor-in-Chief Becca Blanchard During the holiday season one will experience a variety of greetings. Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah are just some of them. But some people get offended when you say those greeting phrases, because of religious beliefs. Those people demand you to say, Happy Holidays, or they get offended. Now we at the Bluffer feel as if any greeting whichever it be should not be deemed offensive. We feel if you have the courtesy to say one of those phrases you aren't necessarily being rude. People who get offended over small things like that need to understand that we are not being rude, but being happy, nice and especially holiday spirited. December is one of the biggest holiday months of the year, and grinchy people need to understand us as a generation are especially merry and holiday spirited. Though we do understand if you religiously don't celebrate Christmas or Chanukah, you have the right not be bothered by it, though we should not pass up the chance to brighten someone's day. We know if we said merry Christmas and we got chewed out, we'd be upset and probably pretty down about the whole holiday season. The holidays are a time for happiness, joy, and giving gifts to family, friends and even random people by the way of the white elephant gift exchange. Seeing the looks on the faces of those people when they open your gift is what the holiday is really about. We at the Bluffer would love to wish everyone in the community and our high school a big warm Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, and an even bigger Happy Holidays! A s I stare at my calculus homework, I realize that I have to persevere for that sheer fact that I promised my mom that I would not become a prostitute. On the bright side however, I feel confident that I can somehow manage to pass my senior year classes, just as I have passed my other high school years. This is due to the fact that I am an utter train wreck of a student. I have made more mistakes in high school (let's cap the list of mistakes at high school) than I can count. I know that I should be embarrassed and ashamed, but looking back, they helped me be a better person. It may be true that in some cases I repeated mistakes, but I eventually learned. By my senior year, I now know such gems as why sleeping in class is a bad idea. I have learned other priceless tools such as the fact that (and it is a shame this isn't taught in school) we as students are given these bound- paper-ink-covered contraptions which contain a rare form of knowledge in which we can receive answers for future tests. Most of all I have learned that I am never going to listen my own advice… but any reader of this should because I may be a hypocrite, but I am an honest hypocrite. I know that making mistakes simply makes me human, and that I just need to try my best and be okay with it, but I never am. I'm surrounded by incredibly intelligent, talented and kind people who make everything they do look flawless. On the other hand, I struggle to gather the energy to lift my arms up to my head so that I can put my hair into a sock bun. So, at eleven at night on a Monday, I suppose I might as well have an epiphany…I mean why not. My new year's resolution (I know it's mid- December, but nobody follows their new year's resolution anyway) is to quit comparing myself to others…passing high school would also be a great side project. If I get a C, it is okay, I've gotten them before and I'll get them again. When I get to college, I'll actually be able to get a C and not implode. M ovies are, and always have been, a great way to see how different scenarios play out. In today's modern society, we are plagued with a certain type of movie that simply horrifies viewers. They're book movies. Book movies are movies made from a book. While they may be good to watch, book movies are prone to leaving out scenes that many of their readers were aware of. Sure, we understand that the American life is on a timely schedule, but that doesn't mean that the producers should just pack as much action as they can into two hours. There's a reason I call them book movies, after all! Moving on, the phrase "The book was better," is also starting to plague modern society. Sure, this is what I have to say about the first two "Hunger Games", but that doesn't make me uneager to see the third. All I know automatically is that the book will be better than "Mockingjay: Part One". The phrase is the truth. "The Maze Runner" cut out scenes from the book that are relevant to the whole series, and they kind of rushed the ending in the movie, and it was obvious. The one that really fires me up is "Divergent". Three characters looked alike, only one's description fit her looks (it was Molly), and one of the characters that's a major factor in the rest of them wasn't even introduced at all! Put them all together, and it kind of ruins the whole movie, or the whole trilogy. Because these movies were rushed, other mistakes became obvious; poor lighting in "Divergent", and if you looked close enough you could actually see the camera reflected in the eyes of certain characters on their close-ups! So let's face it, while we may enjoy movies and not a lot of us have time to read, book movies kind of aren't all that great when you compare the two. E veryone seems to get their reindeer themed panties in a bunch when they see a commercial on Christmas. "How dare they take advantage of the season!" they say, candy cane froth bubbling from their lips. But I've always enjoyed the heavy advertising focus on Christmas. In fact, I don't think the season would be the same without it. I remember when I was younger, my parents would receive a slew of Christmas catalogs that were full of cheap, crappy hunks of plastic engineered to appeal to my young brain. I'd snatch up these catalogs, get a sharpie and circle all the toys I wanted until the catalogue was a mess of black smudges. My time spent perusing these catalogs are some of my favorite Christmas memories. And then there's Christmas commercials. The day after Thanksgiving, commercials start blaring "Frosty the Snowman" and "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year", creating a nostalgia vacuum to suck our wallets dry. Lots of people call this sleazy pandering and it is. But how much Christmas music would you hear without those commercials? I don't actively seek out Christmas music, so hearing a Christmas themed commercial is a pleasant reminder for me that oh yeah, it's Christmas time! I find that Christmas commercials help me get into the holiday season, keep my thoughts from straying too far from gilded Christmas trees, warm fires in the fireplace and fat schizophrenic elves. Another argument I often hear is that "Christmas never used to be like this!". I get pretty tired of hearing this, because it's simply not true. Christmas and commercialism have always gone hand in hand. 60 years ago it was shop windows filled with toy trains, BB guns and dolls, radio advertisements with a Christmas jingle. Today it's commercials blaring on T.V. and magazines in the mail. Ever since Christmas became widely celebrated in America, it has been a chance for huge companies to peddle of their stuff to sentimental moms and dads desperate to get their kids something awesome for Christmas. So next time you get mad at Macy's for shoving Christmas spirit down your throat, remember that Christmas spirit is a good thing to have stuffed down your throat. It keeps the air smelling of candy canes, coa-coa and the new Calvin Klein™ Hooded Faux Fur Trim Quilted Down Puffer Coat, only at Macy's, the perfect gift that special someone this holiday season! O ver the past couple years; I have noticed a dramatic change in Christmas spirit. I remember when I was little my mom, brother, sister and I would pile up into the car, and we would drive through all the neighborhoods while looking at all the houses that were decorated with lights and other Christmas decorations. Lately, nobody seems to have any Christmas spirit left in them. Now nobody even bothers to put up simple things like Christmas lights. You'll have people who barely decorate and they do that by stringing a few lights around, then you have the people who go all out with the Christmas decorations. They string lights around the whole front of the house and they have blown up Christmas characters including, Santa, snowmen, reindeer, penguins and many more. It's like Christmas decoration madness, but sadly I haven't really seen anyone go all out for Christmas decorations in quite a while. Christmas decorations inside the house are also ridiculous. My grandparents go all out with the decorations. Everywhere you look is Christmas related. I know at my house the decorations consist of the fake. Christmas tree with lights strung across it and maybe a few things here and there. Some people don't decorate at all. What I like to say is, "you either go big, or go home." Christmas decorations are fun to look at. It's interesting to see how creative other people can be. Outside Christmas decorations are fun for everybody of all ages. If you have time this Christmas break, take some time with your family and go look at some Christmas decorations. Happy Holidays Red Bluff High! See you next year! The tragic struggles of your average high school student Disappearing Christmas decorations Book movies falling short

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