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Page 2 High Life Opinion November 30, 2005 Differences between pink, yellow prove to be more than just color Mighty Morphin Power Rangers encouraged children worldwide to play pretend, but formost young girls, the choice of the pink power ranger was a coveted one, leaving many to assume the fallback role of the yellow power ranger. BY RILEY DRIVER Reporter As children born in the United Sfeales during the late 1980s, my peers and I were not just arriving at a period of economic growth or during the rise of techno music. What mattered more to us then, and to me in retrospect, is that we were born into the era of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Our obsession with the colorful high school superheroes extended beyond the television show and the action figures. We longed for wrist communicators and giant robots ourselves, and more importantly, we yearned to be teenagers. Since these goals seemed equally distant, we assigned roles to each other and played pretend. If I were to ask students roughly my age if they used to play pretend Power Rangers, chances are good they would say they did. If, however, that someone is a girl, my questioning would continue: "Which Power Ranger were you?" At this point, my observation begins. Now that I am far enough away from that time to see the game more completely, I have noticed a surprisingly widespread pattern. Some of the girls say they were the pink one. Most of them I have asked, though (which is quite a few, since rqy curiosity is piqued), have said they were yellow —not because they chose that character themselves, but because a dominating friend had controlled the rules of the game, and the role of the coveted pink Power Ranger had already been filled. Being a yellow Power Ranger myself, I was surprised at the number of others who shared my childhood experience. It did not seem incredibly significant then. and I cannot decide exactly what significance it has even now. It is possible that it was just an early sign of a beta personality, or maybe if I looked into it, I would find that the roles have reversed over time. I am unsure of the game's long term effects on my life or those of others. However, the pattern seems to be so widespread that the yellow Power Ranger cannot be without significance in our generation's social development. Consciously, the experience teaches me what to avoid when choosing friends. Sometimes I also think that the yellow Ranger is the part I fall back on when at a loss ofwhat role to play. If interested in extending this observation into a theory of your own, please email me at verily.d@gmail.com. I WAKl’^ , ^ A, Speak Question: What is your opinion of midterm exams being after winter break this school year? ON rsi For years, the Monopoly Game at McDonald’s has lured customers into their restaurants with prizes, such as new cars and a million dollars, all for the purpose of selling hashbrowns and tricking teenagers out of what little money they have. BY ZACH BROWN Reporter %>11 the dice. Pull the card. Rrtsceed to McDonald's. Do not pass Go. Do not collect a prize. Since the early 60s, McDonald's has enticed children and adults into the World Wide Monopoly addiction. Every year from the middle of October to the first week of November, thousands of customers take a chance to win the famous one million dollar prize. Students rush to McDonald's to collect that one piece they need to win a car, a movie trip, or more importantly, the Park Place/ Boardwalk coveted million dollars. Considering all the players and the number of years the game has been going on, no one seems to hear of anyone winning anything besides a free burger sandwich or a small McFlurry. Even the one, little old internet gra0ic lady in the U.S. who does win the money only truly receives about $600,000 in increments of $50,000 a year —not bad from a corporation that rakes in billions of dollars each year. McDonald's has stumbled upon a deceitful game of crushing the hopes of adults and young people for enormous profits. Currently, these practically unattainable prizes include a Dodge Viper for the four railroads; a role in a Disney film for the yellow properties; Geek Squad software for the violet properties; and Best Buy Bucks for 100 million points from Best Buy. These gifts and the multitude of copies of properties entice people, but it always seems like they leave out the one piece needed to win the Viper or the money. Few can resist taking a chance and winning a game, experiencing a rush from the prospect of winning something. How much time, energy, or money one spends seems trivial compared to acquiring those one-in-a-million pieces, not to mention the risk of one's health from eating food from the McDonald's menu. In reality, McDonald's is stealing money. One cannot get a Monopoly piece unless he buys a more expensive sandwich or fries. McDonald's executives recognize that consumers cannot resist the chance of purchasing a medium drink and a large fry for four more chances to win. Who knows? That one piece could be there. Their public relations team knows how much fun it is to peel off those "bad boys" from the cup and the fry containers, but most of all, McDonald's knows that each time a face shows disappointment, the corporation is ensured that another sandwich or drink will be purchased. Customers should not become the fools who buy six hash browns and Yellow Mellow beverages every morning, merely to multiply their chances of winning another "free" ring tone, actually paid for by their sandwiches. How unfortunate it is that consumers can be so amused and, in turn, be abused. Since McDonald's is a capitalist monster, but people do have a choice of where to eat, they should purchase goods because of hunger, not because of a game driven by the false hope of winning. "I think having midterms after winter break is a bad idea. It causes people to forget what was done before the break. If midterms are that late, we have to worry about studying and cramming everything at one time. We don't have time to relax." Dominique Richmond, senior "I personally don't mind having the midterms after Christmas. It may be a little bit hard on the kids because they may forget some material over Christmas break, but it won't be a major problem." Ui.U'JL'ii I ..-.t Dr. teacher "I think that it's great because I don't have to be stressed out about my grades on the exams because I haven't already taken them. Also, I have plenty of time to study instead of worrying about homework from other classes." Chelsea Smith, junior "My consensus of having midterm exams after winter break this year is that we have to dread the studying over the holidays. Holidays are made to have a break from school, not to study." Abigail Brannon, sophomore "I don't think midterms should be after break because kids need to have a break where they're not worried about school and they might forget some important concepts over break." Ms. Mary Walker, teacher "I think it is worse than having them before winter break. If you have them after winter break, then you will have forgotten a lot of stuff that you could have easily gotten right before." Joey Patterson, freshman - % Volume 82 Issue 3 The High Life Staff welcomes comments in the form of letters to the editor from students, faculty, and the reading public. Letters may be turned in to the office. All letters must be signed. The staff reserves the right to reject any letter containing libelous statements, the right to edit for length and grammatical errors, and the right to ascertain the truthfulness of its content. The High Life is published nine times a year and is produced by the students of Grimsley High School, 801 Westover Terrace, Greensboro, NC 28408. The High Life functions as a medium for creative journalistic pursuits as well as a training instrument for aspiring journalists, artists, and writers. The High Life functions as a public fomm for student expression. Editors-in- Chief: Brian Gould and Emily Saunders, News Editor: Leia Forgay, Opinion Editor: Natalie Anderson, Features Editors: Jorie Demsha, Sports Editor: TBA, Advertising and Business Managers: Willie Gibson and Allison Newby, Photographer: Billy Moore, Staff Writer: Samantha Way. Reporters: Daniel Aronson, Will Baker, Will Bayliss, Zach Brown, Matt Ger ber, Emily Harden, Hannah Hughes, Amanda LeGaux, Kate Malekoff, Caroline Phillips, Haley Phillips, Hannah Robinson, Dara Rosenkrantz, Rachel Weinstock, Advisor: Lynn Rozelman.
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