With the app world expanding, it seems that there is an app for literally everything. Over 1 million apps have been submitted to the apple store. Apps ranging from games, social networking, music, horoscopes, and shopping. The real question is, what isn’t there an app for? Apps can be bought or freely downloaded on your phone, iPod, and iPad. According to Apple Inc. the top ten free downloaded apps are YouTube, Instagram, Draw Something, Flashlight, Facebook, Pandora, Temple Run, Pinterest, Twitter and Skype. The app universe is continuing to expand. Technology has increased amazingly over the years. From the touch of your iPhone you can check the temperature, future weather, connect to any social networking site, do research for an assignment, online shopping, play games to keep you busy and many other activities. Most children now even have full use to this technology. If they don’t own an iPhone they are using their parents phone,  iPad or some even have their own iPod. Apple Apps even offer children games to enhance learning abilities and motor skills. Apple Inc. never fails to amaze society. Will the App frenzy ever come to an end?

Cinderella left the ball at midnight and her prince found her, Snow White ate the apple and her prince kissed the poison away. Disney makes it look so easy to find true love and ride off into the sunset. It appears that nothing could go wrong trying to find your prince charming, right? Wrong. These days there are more skilled actors in your school than in Hollywood, and all they have to do is tell you everything you want to hear. The story books have it wrong. You don’t ride into the sunset and live happily ever after. Where’s the story about how “prince charming” got cold feet and left Cinderella to take care of three kids. Or the story where Snow White decided not to get married after all?

Lately these magical ideas have been making it harder for women to see the lines between fantasy and reality. The movies, and stories aren’t helping to much either. All the romance stories end with the woman getting the guy that she had been in love with since she saw him. But no one talks about how it really happens. How many frogs must be viewed before the one is actually found. And women are going insane.

Prince Charming Syndrome has been sweeping the nation making it harder to find a stable and healthy relationship for many people. This is because women are excepting their men to live up to the expectations that the stories have set. And when the guys fall short because, com’on they are only human. Mistakes are bound to happen; the dream of the perfect guy dissipates and it’s hard to get a grasp on the harsh reality that no one is perfect. Prince Charming may exist but he’s got his own flaws. If you don’t let them shine through then you’ll just fall flat on disappointment the world will be reduced to, “Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together… mass hysteria!- Bill Murray” So please. To prevent the worst, give your prince a few more chances.

We live in a world were technology rules. People walk down the street reading about the latest celebrity sex scandal. Or the senator that tweeted a nude picture to his mistress; with all of the up and coming apps and media usage, talking about sex should be easier right? But it’s not. Instead it’s an uncomfortable sometimes embarrassing and shameful thing to even think about.

In our heads it sounds like a good idea being able to talk about it, but when push comes to shove you’ll stumble because that’s your private, intimate life. And soon that picture you just took, or that text you just sent is suddenly making your cheeks burn with embarrassment.

Part of the problem is that technology has made it more difficult than it has easy. And it’s because email, texting and twitter have pushed us farther away from face to face. It’s suspended us in this ability to do or say something without thinking because you don’t have to see the other person.

There’s even been a rise in apps that are designed to help send a sext with little evidence left for the sender. The apps make it so that the pictures are deleted immediately. However the person it went to still has it and whatever they choose to do with it isn’t covered. The point is, don’t send the naked pictures.  Talk about what you want from your relationship; not what pictures you’d like to have.

The problem is with all the media talking about what a scandal it is, it has become something that makes you feel shameful. It shouldn’t be a shameful thing, it should be a personal thing between two people. What should happen is that it should be between you and your significant other. Not the whole world.

Mornings for teenagers are rough, we’re up late with homework and sports, and that makes our mornings rough because we don’t get enough sleep. It’s hard to wake up on such little sleep. When you’re tired at school you don’t want to do anything, let alone want to learn anything. I feel like it would be better to have school start in the afternoon, because we get to sleep from being up late the night before, and it would make us more alert for school. Even for teachers, you’re up late grading our papers, getting lessons planned for the week, and you have to get up early to teach. Wouldn’t it be nice to have school in the afternoon so you can sleep and not worry about waking up at 6 or so in the morning? Most kids would learn more and pay attention more if they were wide awake. Yes, you can say go to sleep early, but that’s hard for students when you’re at practices for sports, rehearsal for a play, and then go home eat, and get started at your homework. By the time your done with that, its late. Kids would be more focused and awake if we started school in the afternoon. Moreover, maybe if we started later maybe kids would stop skipping classes because they’re awake and ready to come to school. Marcus Archuleta, Junior says “I want school to be in the afternoon so I can sleep in and get things done before school.” Most kids would prefer school in the afternoon so they can sleep and be awake for school, mornings are just too hard to get up and awake to start school.

Mr.Barnes always enjoys a fun class

Trojan News decided to get a behind the scene look at how students want class and how teachers prefer class. Most would think that all students want a pretty laid back class and the teachers are the ones that are always strict and never want to have any fun. Ann Reed, math teacher, said “I prefer having a fun class because if kids are relaxed and feel more comfortable they will learn more.” Reed wants to make her class a fun and exciting learning environment by making all the kids comfortable so they learn more. Christopher Barnes, government teacher, told Trojan News how he feels about having a fun class. He said, ”Oh yea! If it’s not engaging it”s not a learning class.” A few of the students views on having a fun class is Katie Porterfield, Junior, said “yes it makes it easier to learn and a lot more fun.” Austin Kemp, junior, said “Yes probably the best part is when we get to watch a movie.” Both the students and teachers want to be in an engaging and fun class neither of them want to sit in class and have to learn if we are all working together to try and engage in something interesting then everyone will want to be there.

Do most teachers do their school work at home or at school and do students do their work at school or would rather do them at home? Barnes and Reed both said “half and half” but Barnes went on to say “historically at home because there are never enough hours in the day.” Teachers do not really get the chance to ever stop doing school they are always grading or making lesson plans. When it comes to student’s school work, Kemp said “probably during my free block”, while Porterfield said “I do most my work at home.”

When the frequently asked question comes up of what would you rather be doing instead of school? Reed answered “I would rather be hiking and watching movies.” Showing not all teachers want to just have school they want days off as well and do other things than worry about grades and doing school work. Barnes said “school really is my whole life , if I was not in school I would still be learning.” Barnes enjoys his profession it is not just a job for him, it’s his profession he loves teaching and woudn’t want to be doing anything else. For students Kemp said “probably playing sports” and Porterfield said “hang out with my friends and family.” None of them said they disliked school they would some days rather be doing something else then waking up and coming to school.

Kaite Porterfield, Junior always working in Ms. Gaddis’s class.

Now take a second to think if you could choose to have a four days week every week but have an extra hour of school every day would you want to have a four day week or would you rather just go all five days of the week? Reed said “no” she would rather be having a full five day week and just get through it. Porterfield said “stay with the five day week” a teacher and a student both like the way that school is they would rather keep everything the same. Barnes and Kemp both agree in saying “yes definitaly would be a good idea.” Barnes goes on to say “but at the same time I already work an extra hour.” Both Barnes and Kemp think it would be a great idea to have a four day week and have a three day weekend.

Teachers and students are a lot a like they don’t really ever disagree to any extent they seem to enjoy the same things when they are in school or if they are not in school.

Adam Lanza, who killed his mom, 20 first-graders, and six educators, wanted to top the Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik, who killed 77 people in July 2011. Lanza chose Sandy Hook Elementary School because it was the easiest target for outdoing Breivik. In the basement of his mother’s house investigators found several news articles about the Norwegian mass murderer and he had pictures of him on his walls.

Breivik detonated a car bomb in the basement of the governor building in Oslo, Norway; where he killed eight people and injured more than 200 people. Hours later he started shooting at the island of Utøya, where there was a camp for AUF (Workers Youth League) and killed 69 people, mostly teenagers. When the SWAT team arrived to the island, Breivik surrendered. Breivik spent hours in his room planning the attack, and he used the video game Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 as a simulator.

Like Breivik, Lanza spent hour upon hour in his “blacked out” basement. When he closed the doors the only light came from the TV, where he was playing his tactical shooting games such as Call of Duty. When Lanza wasn’t in his basement playing video games, he was at the shooting range with his mom. He was motivated by the violent video games and the desire to top Breivik.

This is an example of why we should monitor what we watch on our TVs and computers. These two men dreamed of hurting large groups of people. To people like them, it is all just a game. They are trying to see who can get the highest “score.” Until we do something to keep people like this from “playing these games” this is something that we will have to deal with.

Church is place where you go partly for the words from the minister but also for the community. What would you do if you suddenly weren’t welcome in your church? And all because you had finally come out to the people that you thought should accept you.

Justin Lee

Justin Lee, who is the author of “Torn” went through that experience in high school. He had been raised Christian under the belief that to be gay was a sin. And In high school he became depressed and tried to ignore the feelings he kept having, until it was too much and he had to tell his parents. After coming out people at the church looked down on him and he was bullied at school. He talks about how there was a clear line drawn in the sand with gays on one side and the Christians on the other, but there you are, a gay Christian all alone.

His story can be seen as an inspiration for many gay teens struggling with their beliefs of right and wrong. It’s hard to know that when you are with the people you love they’ll change their opinions on you based on who you choose to love. Our generation has grown up for the most part learning that it’s not a sin, or wrong to be gay. Even now there are still people who can’t be themselves because their families won’t accept them or they’ll become the target of bullying.

LGBT teens are five times more likely to kill themselves than straight teens. Most of it is not knowing where to get support and then part of it is the fact that they were raised in a religious household that most likely taught about the sins of the gays. If the word got out that they were gay there would need to be a support system there for them. People who accept and love them as they are. At the moment there aren’t many of those especially for teens due to adults pushing it off as just a phase and that you’ll grow out of it. Currently there are nine states that recognize gay marriage as legal and acceptable and there are twenty three states where it is legal to have sex with a horse. Talk about an issue of priorities.

Here at LHS we have a system set up in  an attempt to be here for LGBT kids that need it. However it’s not an exclusive club. It’s called the Gay Straight alliance and it’s there for kids who just want to stay informed. It’s not an excuse to go and bash students and it’s the best way that kids can go and just talk about things at home or bullying issues. It meets every Thursday at lunch in the language hall, room 306.

It’s the 21st century people, being gay shouldn’t be an issue but it is. You shouldn’t have to be afraid that your entire family will hate you or that your church will no longer accept you. In the future the issue of being openly gay and gay marriage will be looked down upon in the same eye as slavery and mixed race marriages. Until then hopefully there are enough support systems set up for the people who need it.

A current question around the United States is whether we as citizens should be allowed to carry a concealed weapon, or even own one at all. With the recent news stories many argue that gun laws should be reexamined. After the tragic events that took place at Sandy Hook Elementary school, the worst school shooting in the United States to date, celebrities and average people took to social networks and began voicing their opinions. Some current thoughts jumping around the internet are whether or not teachers should be allowed to carry a concealed weapon, they argue that this would protect the kids more and keep things like school shootings out of the news.

Coffee or soda? It’s up to you

The drink people prefer in the morning to wake them up differs from person to person. Some prefer coffee and some prefer soda. Both are caffeinated and help get people moving in the morning. Lindsay Oliver, sophomore, said “I prefer coffee because it’s warm and it’s been really cold in the morning. I also think soda is nasty.” The generic brewed coffee contains anywhere from 95-200 milligrams of caffeine per eight ounce cup. If you go to Starbucks and get their pikes place coffee the average sixteen ounce cup contains 330 milligrams. The soda with the most caffeine is Mountain Dew with fifty-five milligrams per twelve ounce can. This just proves that the most caffeinated soda isn’t anywhere close to the same amount of caffeine as an average cup of coffee. The caffeine content isn’t always the deciding factor for some people though. Some people don’t like the smell or taste of coffee. Wyatt Stengel, sophomore, chose coffee. He said “I prefer it because it has more jolt in the morning.  And why would I want a can of sugary soda when I can have a good warm cup of coffee?” The choice just boils down to something that each person is going to have to choose for themselves. Taylor Garczynski, senior, said “I prefer soda because it just gets me going.” This just shows that the choice changes from person to person. Not everybody’s reasons will be the same but, everyone will mave the decision at some point.

“The amount of time that we have for lunch now is enough time to go out and get food, But it is not enough time to eat it before class.” said Amanda Phannadeth, Junior.

I don’t think that you will find a single student at Longmont that thinks our lunch is the perfect amount of time to go out and eat and come back without being late. Lunch starts at 12:35, and by the time you gather all your friends and finally get to where you want to eat it is already about 12:55. Then you have to wait for your food and by the time you get back to school its about 1:10, Which leaves you no time to eat. Then half of the teachers in the school do not allow eating in the classroom so you have to wait till after class to finish eating. I personally think that this isn’t a very fair way to have lunch, if we can have a longer lunch than we should at least be allowed to eat in the classroom. The upsides of being able to eat in class are that you don’t have to speed/dangerously drive just to make it back in time, you don’t have to eat and drive, and you don’t have to starve while sitting in last block. The only downside of being allowed to eat in class would be messes and annoying people with your chewing. Most people would agree that the lunch time should be extended.