NOVEMBER
THE FULL MOON
Features
EDITOR: SALLYLOWDER
BUSY WORK OR DISCIPLINE?
By Courtney Brown
After reading many articles and magazines about learning in school, I have come up with
what I think is the main goal of the education system today: to educate the young people so
they can not only cope but become assets to their commuraty m tomorrow s society.
Ediationalexpertshaverepeatedly stated that theonlywayastudaitcanleamisto^present
in a class where there is a good learning atmosphere and be willmg to learn. Why Aen is
Albemarle High School punishing students by sending them to detention, i.e. the bam .
Surely, with the intelligence our faculty and administration possess a new and more ettective
punishment can be implemented that will not detract from a student’s education. It s^ms that
the whole idea of sending a student to in-school suspension defeats the purpose of today s
education system: to have the student present in class so he can learn.
I have two main complaints about in-school suspension, and anyone who has been to the
bam will agree with me. 1. Why is it that when you first walk in the bam door you are told
to do detention packets that only take up time that could be better spent domg cl^s work.
The reasoning behind the packets is good but the manner in which the work is to be done is
not appropriate. Why not instead of doing the detention packets first thmg m the day save them
until the end of the day when all other classwork is done? 2. The most effective way a student
can learn is to be present in class, so keeping aperson who hasn’t finished his or her assigned
work for the day in the bam is ludicrous. He or she should be sent back to class to keep from
getting even further behind. I hope this editorial will draw attention to one of the areas of the
school that drastically needs new thinking and reconstmction. I would like to say that^e bm
is not all bad (I speak from experience) and that Mrs. Ward is a very intelligent teacher who
has knowledge in many subjects, and I would like to thank her for instructmg me in calculus
and numerous other subjects during the DAYS I hav^pCTt with her.
■Win n Wi
Ms. Ward helps Eric make sure his assignments are correct.
Cast Your Vote Now
By Sally Lowder
What comes to your mind when thinking of the month November? Votingmaybe?! Well, you
probably laugh, but voting is very important. The freedom to vote is essential to self-government,
whether carried on directly or throu^ elected representatives of the people. A citizen who is too
“care-free”, lazy, or just indifferent to exercise his right to vote is saying good-bye to one of his
most precious rights. He is definitely abandoning his right to have a voice in his own government.
To exercise the right to make decisions that govern the land should be very important to
people, especially to those eighteen years and older. There are more than one hundred million
United States citizens of voting age, yet many of these have never voted. I really don tunderstand
why some people don’t vote. After all, the governing officials’ decisions affect everyone s life.
Also, there are always those people who don’t vote who will sit back and blame the government
officials or even their precinct officials for certain things that are going wrong. Yet they don t
take the time to vote on officials that they believe could do a good job.
Voting is a wonderful priviledge to have and everyone should use it. The United Sutes will
be a republic only so long as the people can vole freely for the candidates that they think will
govern best. So you eighteen year old AHS students need to register to vote as soon as possible
because it’s your responsibilty as a United States citizen to make sure that the new generation of
voters will not disappoint their country^
FULL MOON
Published nine times per year by the journalism class
at Albemarle High School
Member Quill and Scroll
Staff
Courtney Brown - Editor-in-Chicf
Jessica Poplin - Co-Editor/Business Manager
Mysty Blalock - News Editor Sally Lowder - Features Editor
Seth Cain - Sports Editor Kristi Johnson - Entertainment Editor
Susan Hathcock - Advisor
Junior Staff
Christy Brooks, Natasha Byrd, Christy Hendrick, Jonathan Holt, Jason Ingram.
Tina Lee. Shanta Maske. Leslie Morgan, Reishanna Morrison, Kim Smith,
Wendy Smoak, Brian Snyder
Bathing Suits or
Santa Suits?
By Sally Lowder
Ahhh . . . Christinas is in the air, or is it?!
These days it would be really hard to tty to figure
out what month Christmas falls in if you didn t
know what month you were presently in. Why,
it could be as soon as July, and you could be going
to the mall to pick up a pair of shorts and some
taiming oil for that summer sun, and Santa is
sitting in a big red and white chair asking children
what they’d like for Christmas! This occurance
is just one example of the so-called Christmas
Frenzy”! Have you ever noticed that Christmas
arrives sooner and sooner every year? Well, you
can thank the people of advertisement for that.
They always take advantage of this one time of
the year event, becauseby starting early they can
make more money. They don t even think for
once that by starting in August Christmas gets
REAL old before the month of December!
One of the earliest holiday items that is always
advertised first is Christmas albums. You tum on
the “tube” to watch a baseball game, but to your
surprise, you hear the different joyous tunes of
Christmas music and see things going down your
screen such as;
Winter Wonderland
Crystal Gayle
Silent Night
Dolly Parton
Rudolph the Red-nosed reindeer
Reba MacIntyre
O Holy Night
Kenny Rogers ...
and so forth and so on. This may at times seem
a little crazy but there are peple who will actually
buy those albums and instead of waiting to listen
to them during the holiday season they go right
ahead and get an early start by listening to them
during baseball season! You know who you are!
Christmas is a wonderful time of the year.
Everyone should get started early on buying gifts
and it wouldn’t be a bad idea to do it all year
round! (Just whenever there are good buys!) Just
don’t tell anyone! Even though the stores start
putting up decorations in July, it would probably
be better to wait until it gets closer to December
before you start getting ready for the holidays.
Christinas will seem much more of a wonderful
and joyous occasion, and maybe you can expe
rience total holiday spirit this year instead of “I
don’t have any money” blues!
Your Junk Could Be Someone Else's Treasure!
Where’s the place to be on Saturday mom-
ings? If you haven’t figured it out, the answer is
at a yard sale. There’s nothing better than getting
up at 7:00 a.m. and going to stand out in the cold
to find bargains. One time at a yard sale I bought
a pair of Guess jeans for a low price of fifty cents.
Where else can you get bargains like this? Some
people just go to yard sales to browse around and
see how much junk was in someone’s house at
sometime. At some yard sales you will find just
pure junk, but sometimes you can find really
valuable things, such as antiques. Personally, I
think yard sales are better than flea markets. The
only bad thing about a yard sale is that if you
don’t get there early, all the good things will be
sold out.
If you don’t like going to yard sales you ought
to try having one. Instead of buying bargains,
you can sell them. You wouldn’t believe how
much money you can make selling clothes you’ve
outgrown or figurines you’re tired of looking at.
A yard sale is a good thing to have if you just need
By Leslie Morgan
some extra money to spend.
If you haven’t ever had a yard sale or ever
been to one, I suggest you do. However, I never
get up at 7:00 a.m. to go to a yard sale. I just sleep
in and go to the clothing closet later!
Missy bought all this at a yard sale!
Do Horoscopes Run Your Life?
Do you read your horoscope or better yet do
you believe what you read? Do you believe in
predictions? Can the future really be predicted?
Some incidents in the past seem to answer this
question with a “yes”. Is it true or is it merely
coincidence?
Maybe you are familiar with Jeane Dixon’s
and Nostradamus’ predictions. Jeane Dixon made
mostof her predictions in the 50's and 60's. They
were not all necessarily about the 50's and 60's,
but some were. She is credited with the predic
tion of President John F. Kennedy’s assignation
and the election of Richard Nixon as President.
Also, unlike the rest of the nation, she was not
surprised by Marilyn Monroe’s death. Were
these just good hunches?
Nostradamus died around the year 1566, but
By Wendy Snroak
before he did he made some remarkable jjredic-
tions. He supposedly predicted the rise of a
German dictator—Hitler. Also in a vision he saw
the French Revolution and Napolean. Just more
coincidences? If you would have heard these
before the fact would you have believed them?
Maybe. I think you have more likely of a chance
believing a prediction if it is bad. Take horo
scopes, for instance. Which would you believe -
a horoscope foretelling you to find the man/
woman of your dreams or on the 3rd day of the
month you should stay in bed?
Horoscopes ar*d predictions are fun and
sometimes very interesting to read, but they ar®
not always true. There are more records o
incorrect predictions than correct ones. So just
take them with a train of salt