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THE FULL MOON
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January 31,1980
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EDITORIAL POLICY
The Full Moon, Albemarle
Senior High School’s estab
lished student newspaper, an
nounces its editorial policy.
Designed to inform the student
body and community, this
policy pertains to published
editorials and letters received.
1. The Full Moon refuses to
print libelous or obscene
materials and reserves the
right to edit specific libel state
ments in an article to be pub
lished.
2. We reserve the right to edit
any grammatical errors that
appear in a letter.
3. Students will be contacted
if the staff finds it necessary to
shorten a letter due to space.
4. Editorials published are the
opinion of the writer, not
necessarily that of the news
paper staff.
5. All letters to the editor
must be signed by the writer.
Upon request the staff will omit
his name when the article is
printed; however this request
must be in writing.
With Valentine’s Day quickly
approaching, I am, as always,
tempted to send the best card
money can buy to my true love.
Unfortunately, for the pocket-
book, this display of affection on
this special day can get out of
hand. I, of course, am not guilty
of the over-done Valentine card,
but I do know one who is. Several
years ago I was told the story of a
guy named V|ncent Crane. Vin
cent had a very wild imagination
and an ever-expanding will.
Vincent’s first love was a young
thing named Deborah. As Valen
tine’s Day drew near, Vincent
vowed that his Deborah would re
ceive the finest card in the land.
It was red, white, and mushy,
with an abundance of lace, and it
measured three feet by nine feet.
Deborah was impressed, of
course, as was her mother, who
had to help Deborah carry the
card up to the attic.
The following year, in an at
tempt to outdo the previous
year’s effort, Vincent, with ham
mer in hand, constructed from
plywood and two-by-fours a
three-dimensional Valentine card
with electric motors and twirling
hearts. Poor Deborah nearly had
coronary failure trying to get the
card out of its six-foot tall
envelope. Upon seeing it,
Deborah was struck breathless.
Her mother felt weak, dreading
the day when this card would
By SHANNON BOWERS
have to be moved into the attic.
All Vincent could do was smile
with satisfaction and plan for
next year.
Vincent drew up his blueprints
and in early summer he started
construction. By January his
masterpiece was completed, a
forty-foot high heart covered with
flashing red lights and the name
“Deborah” written in ten-foot let
ters across it. Vincent wheeled
his monstrosity into Deborah’s
yard at 11:50 p.m. on February
thirteenth. When everything was
ready, he turned on the lights and
happily drove away, leaving the
pulsating structure in his sweet
heart’s front yard. Terrified
neighbors reported UFO’s to the
police. Pilots flying overhead
were baffled. Deborah’s father,
having had a little too much to
drink, just sat on the porch, grin
ning at the giant, flashing heart.
Deborah’s mother, seeing the
lights suddenly shine through the
window, thought it was the sec
ond coming. The ultimate Valen
tine overwhelmed Deborah, who
complained to Vincent as they
drove to the hospital to visit her
YOUTH CHARACTER
The Charlotte Observer recent
ly published an article by William
Raspberry about the decline of
youth character. In the source
quoted by Raspberry, Edward A.
Wynee, an associate professor of
education at the University of Illi
nois, comments, “The statistics
reveal steady increases in adoles
cent conduct which can be
described as either other-
destructive or self-destructive.”
Wynee provided these facts to re
inforce his statement:
* Deaths by homicide of white
males aged 15 to 19 increased
from 2.7 per 100,000 in 1959 to 7.5
per 100,000 in 1976 — an increase
of 177 percent.
* Between 1950 and 1976, the an
nual suicide rate for young white
males rose from 3.5 per 100,000 to
11.9 — an increase of 260 percent.
* In addition, there is statistical
evidence of major increases in
the youthful abuse of illicit drugs
and alcohol, in sexual permis
siveness, in illegitimacy and
venereal disease.
Wynee points out that all of
these facts, “reveal a steady in
crease in those acts demonstrat
ing a lack of what is traditionally
called ‘good character.’ ” An ar
ticle by Wynee declares his belief
that school operations should re-
By LORI THOMAS
ceive a good deal of the blame.
He feels that segregation and
continuous grouping in schools is
at fault.
Some people sharing his con
cern may question Wynee’s rea
soning. For instance, how can the
youth of today be expected to up
hold the “traditional morals”
when parents, teachers and other
elders do not provide proper ex
amples? Some of the same people
that critize youth do not even pre
tend to be examples or to exer
cise the old values which they ex
pect in youth.
“The growing decline of youth
character raises the central ques
tion of social continuity,” Wynee
states. “Is our society rearing
adults who can keep the country
going?” Wynee clearly believes
the answer is no. What will the ef
fect be in the future of our coun
try? The survival of any society
must depend upon its ability to
produce successive generations
of mature adults who are deter
mined enough to keep the major
traditions.
Those traditions, according to
Wynee, include “the production
of goods and services to sus
tain the young, the aged and the
ill; the maintenance (through
taxes and military service) of a
necessary defense establish
ment; the persistence of a decent
level of public order; and the
commitment of citizens to con
structive community and politi
cal activities to sustain the coun
try.”
With the beginning of a new
year, teens must face the fact
that the conditions of the world
depend upon their future actions.
Guidance must be attained from
the few adults who try to set ex
amples — however difficult they
may be to find.
mother (Vincent’s monstrous
heart was just too much for
hers). Deborah had to get a job to
pay the rent on the warehouse
where she stored the heart. Vin
cent and Deborah broke up a few
weeks later, and it was said that
Deborah eventually sold the giant
heart to some people who later
made it into a float for the Rose
Bowl parade.
Vincent, in the future, lost his
girlfriends around February fif
teenth. His imagination grew
wilder, and it is rumored that he
is now building a space satellite,
in the shape of a heart of course,
for his current love. Though he
did keep the red paint industry in
business, Vincent never had
much money because electric
motors and steel girders cost
quite a bundle.
As you can see, getting swept
up in the spirit of Valentine’s Day
can be expensive. I hope you, in
this season of frivolity, will keep
your goals on the ground, unlike
Vincent, whose most recent
undertaking is due for lift-off on
February fourteenth.
What are these
fantastic creations
which have invad
ed Mrs. Deese^s
classroom? Where
are they from ?
From the imagina
tions of Bryan Shu-
m ate, Eddie
Snuggs, David
Smith and Com
pany. Molded from
grape bubble-gum,
this menagerie is
part of a tradition
that will undoubt-
e d 1 y ''stick
around''.
THE FULL MOON
Albemarle Senior High School
Albemarle, N.C. 28001
Pam Cox, Editor-In-Chief
Sonya Mabe, News Editor
Beth Mabry, Feature Editor
Shannon Bowers, Asst. Feature Editor
Tony Hinson, Sports Editor
Christie Sasser, Asst. Sports Editor
Shannon Bell and
Lynn Rivers, Business Managers
Mitzi Morris, Exchange Editor
Miss Sandra Pollard, Advisor
SENIOR STAFF
Lisa Holm, Frank Howard
Bryan Shumate, Photographer
JUNIOR STAFF
Tammy Dwight, David Moose,
Shari Robertson, Kenneth Rus
sell, Art Director; Lori Thomas,
Lydia Williams.
The Full Moon is published nine times during the school year by the
I journalism class of Albemarle Senior High School and is printed by
I "ess Printing Company of Albemarle.
Review
‘A ROSE
BY ANY OTHER NAME ...’
By KENNETH RUSSELL
The year is 1969, the height.of the hippie era, the year of Wood-
stock, the time of love beads and Vietnam. Man is about to take his
first steps on the moon, and the Rose is about to step on stage.
It might have been Janis Joplin. But, no, it could as easily have
been Jimi Hendrix or Jim Morrison. It was, of course, Bette Midler,
combining all the fast-lane legends of the 60’s into one performer
The Rose.
“It’s so good to be home,” she whispers into the microphone. “It
feels real good to be home. ’ ’
It is toward this moment that the film inevitably builds. For, more
than anything else. The Rose is the story of a young woman’s fear-rid-
den homecoming. To Rose, her one chance to escape from the destruc
tive life she’s started is “to quit the business for at least a year.” How
ever, she feels she must first play a concert for the hometown crowd,
the same people that years before had ridiculed and abused her.
But there are obstacles aplenty, not the least of which is Rudge,
her ambitious, manipulative manager, portrayed by Alan Bates!
Rudge’s only concern is that Rose deliver a performance on time.
Rose remains lonely and confused despite her rise to the top of the
music world. She makes a pathetic grab for love with an Army de
serter, Houston Dyer (Frederic Forrest). In one of the film’s most
touching moments. Rose asks him childishly, breathlessly, “Do you
wanna go steady?”
But Rose is not merely pitiful. She is also lou'd, vulgar, obscene
and very funny. In one scene, she and Dyer are told by a red-neck cook
in a diner, “We don’t serve hippies here.” Rose quickly counters,
“That’s okay, we don’t eat ’em, neither.”
But after all. The Rose is a “down” movie, and concludes with
Rose’s tragic death. As her eyes close for the last time, Rose no doubt
realizes finally the price that must be paid for such hard living. But
perhaps she also realizes what she has gained — immortality.