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Patricia Krentcil, aptly nicknamed Tanning Mom, is a woman from Nutley, NJ, who was arrested for allegedly taking her five year old daughter to a tanning salon. Her daughter arrived at school afterwards with noticable burns on her skin. School officials alerted the police after overhearing that she “went tanning with Mommy.”

After being arrested, Krentcil was released on a twenty-five thousand dollar bond. Her court cases still underway, the Tanning Mom claims that her daughters burns are due to the sun, instead of the tanning booth for which she was convicted.

Krentcil claims to have taken her daughter into the tanning salon many times, but never into the actual booths. Her husband, Richard Krentcil, claims that it was eighty-five degrees out on the day his daughters skin was damaged, which could easily cause a noticable sun burn.

Either way, she has recieved a lot of backlash since her arrest; even previously mentioned Nadya Suleman, A.K.A. ‘Octomom’, has criticized her. Suleman claimed that Krentcil needs “parenting classes”, and that she herself would “never even fathom” taking one of her fourteen children tanning. Suleman holds that tanning salons support psychological damage on a child, on the basis that it would teach a child to judge themselves on appearance.

If that wasn’t enough, Krentcil has since been banned from at least 63 tanning salons. The media outcry on her decisions obviously hasn’t been supportive of the tanning industry. Some salons even post warning signs of the New Jersey mother, as to make sure that she isn’t allowed in.

Whether she’s declared innocent or not remains to be seen.

“I was nervous because I thought I was not going to pass. When I saw the test scores I was happy that I passed both tests; I was proud of myself”, said 10th grader Judith Perez.

In fact, many students were surprised with their test scores. Some were shocked to see how well they did, while others thought they could have done better. Some sophomores had even over analyzed the CASHEE. One student named Jordan Williamson said, “I felt happy because I worked so hard in the past. You shouldn’t over think it, it is not as difficult as you think it is.”

Some interesting facts that make the ladybug the coolest:

• They will work for aphids! They feed on these small insects, which feed on plants.
• Male ladybugs are also called ladybugs.
• Ladybugs can come in different colors, such as: red, pink, yellow, white, orange, and black.
• Bright colors are a warning against predators saying “I am not yummy!”
• Ladybugs sometimes play dead as a defence mechanism.
• Ladybugs are the cutest beetles around.

Myths about ladybugs and their spots:

• In Brussels, there is a belief that if a ladybug lands on you, the spots on the ladybug will tell you how many children you will have.
• Ladybugs can make your wishes come true.  If you have a ladybug on your hand and make a wish, then whichever way the ladybug flies in is the direction from which the answer to your wish will come.
• The ladybug is a universal symbol for good luck, so do not harm them and consider yourself lucky if one is attracted to you.

There’s still no word on where this adorable creature came from, but she sure put a smile on everyone’s face! I mean just look at her, you could literally just put her in your pocket!

Bieber Fever is the term created for the fandom that Bieber has amassed over the years, beginning with his hit track “Baby” that skyrocketed the artist to success in early 2010. From then on, Bieber has amassed many fans and hit tracks, making the boy a household name. Now that it is 2012, Bieber is now older and more grown up, hoping to connect with the fans with his new song “Boyfriend” that differs greatly from the material the artist once made. Bieber has also been seen with Selena Gomez and caused much controversy, as both are two rising stars and have been on and off. With all these factors into play, it is questionable if Bieber’s future in the music industry will be affected.

However, Bieber’s success on the charts will have to wait as the appearance of One Direction has shaken the charts. The group consists of five members: Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Harry Styles, and Louis Tomlinson, creating a British-Irish mix between the boys. Their hit singles “What Makes You Beautiful” and “One Thing” have touched many young hearts, as the Directioners are the new fandom that is popular at the moment. Despite their immediate success in the American music charts, many believe that they are just a phase and that boy bands will die out like in the past.

Seeing as how Del Mar is a very diverse school, I was interested to see what sides people would take on the matter. Senior Daniel Kim stated that, ” Beiber’s got it going on, but One Direction’s not too bad either.”

“Biebs’ got the beat and the flow – One Direction’s songs are just too dang catchy,” stated senior Eduard Zilinskiy in regards to both artists. However, not everyone is feeling the love for Bieber. Senior Sophia Brinton had a stronger opinion on the young pop star, “Justin Bieber cannot sing at all; he can barely even say swag at all in his new song,” stated Brinton with a more cynical tone.

Finally, “One Direction is just a fad. It’ll pass in a few months,” declared senior Kevin Collins in his opinion of the 1D craze.

To recap, Bieber will have to battle it out on the charts as he faces stern competition from One Direction. Whether or not One Direction will overtake Bieber, will have to wait! The two music titans will duke it out on the Billboard charts.

Being a Freshman was hard at first because I had to adjust to a new environment while getting to know people at the same time. Although high school is harder than middle school, it has been a lot more fun since getting used to it. At first, I was scared to come to Del Mar, because I didn’t think I would be able to handle the pressures. By staying on track and completing all my assigned tasks, I learned to do my best in all my classes. In my opinion, it’s almost impossible not to pass 9th grade unless you slack off. If you do everything right the first time, you’ll end up being successful throughout your entire high school experience.

During my first few weeks at Del Mar, it was hard to concentrate with so many distractions. After balancing a time for fun and time for school, focusing more on my lessons became a lot less stressful. Sure, I made some mistakes by not turning in a paper or two or participating 100% of the time. It wasn’t until it affected my grade that I chose to try harder. This year a key lesson that I learned was that every second and grade counts in high school - especially when you’re aiming toward college!

Aside from fashion, food, music, auctions, and an “adopt a teacher” cause, there were  games provided for the audience (as is customary at many school fundraisers like this).

Tickets went from 20 dollars at the office to 25 at the doors, with all proceeds going towards the PTSA. Parents and students had a blast and are looking forward to future PTSA fundraisers!

Obesity can be sometimes be caused by 3 main reasons: eating more junk food than your body can handle, drinking too much alcohol, and not getting enough exercise. Stress, anxiety, depression, or bad sleeping habits are also some of the causes. For women, menopause can be also a cause, as many women can gain 12-15 pounds during the process.

Obesity is a major life threat. Obese people can obtain health complications, including: gallstones and liver problems, high blood cholesterol, trouble breathing. Obesity can be tested by measuring your waist circumference and your body mass index (BMI). This is measured using your weight and height. You can also identify it by the skin fold measurements to check your body fat percentage.

America has the highest percentage of obesity compared to other countries, followed by Mexico then the UK. Stereotypically, many Americans have really bad lifestyles and just eat whatever they want. (Often times without considering how many calories or how much cholesterol is in their meal. They are not aware of things that can affect them. Informing yourself on healthy food choices and snacks, learning how to read nutrition labels, finding new ways to prepare food can prevent obesity or at least help you reduce weight.

Changing your eating habits won’t cost you anything but living a healthy, longer life.

Since my parents are affected most directly by the policies of our government, my political interests are bias to their needs and circumstances. My mother made a bad move by buying a house in Oakland without checking out the area or having professional advice a few years ago. This has come back to haunt her and now the house is worth half of what it used to be. Since I’m close to my mother, her problems are my problems and whenever I listen to a presidential speech or go over a proposal, I tend to go soft when I read things having to do with giving more money to homeowners, refinancing mortgages or amendments to the FHA. In this way, my family greatly influences my political beliefs. If the day comes where the circumstances my family are under change, my political beliefs will change with them.

Friends help me acquire different perspectives on politics and policies. Many times, it’s easier to just go along with what your friends think instead of finding your own opinion. Although it is a little embarrassing to admit, I usually go along with whatever my friends are saying if they seem more educated on the topic than I do. Friends are similar to family in that their worries are often my worries. I have a leniency on illegal immigrants because many of my friends do not have a green card. I would hate to see them get deported and that is something that I think about whenever I review a piece of legislation. Also, friends are a pivotal role in gaining political influence. The greatest political parties of our nation are simply groups of friends who have similar political ideals. Sometimes, when I want an idea of mine to be more acceptable, I think about the interests of my friends. This way, if an idea of mine deals with the problems and frustrations of many people, I will have a chance to have my opinion be heard.

Media is all around us. Not a day goes by when we don’t spend at least a minute or two being exposed to multimedia. Media is the most important political influence to me because it is where everyone gets their political beliefs. If I get really interested in something and want to learn more about it, the first thing I do is get on the internet and do research on the topic. Many times, I read the same story told by multiple websites and watch videos and interviews associated with the thing I’m interested in. I find that I do this almost every time with politics. Since all of my information comes from the internet and newspaper, it can be said that my political beliefs come directly from media.

My political beliefs are formed by the influences of daily life. These influences come from everywhere, primarily from my friends and family. Media is the one unavoidable source of political influence that affects me every day. The perspectives I have today on politics are not my own since they come from so many different sources.  My agents of socialization are the ones I accredit my stance to.