The Oblivion’s Back Page Poll

The Oblivion needs poll responses for it’s back page poll! If you would like to appear in the final end-of-the-year poll, e-mail Diane Grayson on FirstClass.

Friends Runs All Over ACIS

By Jonah Rosenblum (Reporting Done by Max Wilner and Zannie Furman)

On Thursday afternoon, the Friends Seminary track team dominated their championship meet. Racing against Dwight, Berkeley Carroll, Packer, Saint Ann’s, Brooklyn Friends, and UNIS, Friends Seminary’s boys came in second and the girls came in first. The girls’ win was particularly impressive given that Friends brought only six girls to the meet.

Friends was boosted by a slew of impressive individual performances. On the girls side, sophomore phenom Emma Vasta-Kuby won first place in the 100m and 200m race. On the boys side, Wilner won the 100m, and Tyler McCully won the 400m (he ran it in an incredible 51:45). These were just a few of the remarkable individual performances from the Thursday meet.

Next up for the track team is states, which will take place this coming week. But, first we offer our congratulations to coaches Warren Salandy, Pam Boehm, and the entire track team!

Newspaper Deadline

Any articles submitted after Friday, May 23, 2007 may not make it into the final issue of the paper. Thus, please send all articles (via FirstClass) to Hayden Hatch, Jonah Rosenblum, and/or Alexander Singer by Friday. If you have any questions, feel free to shoot us an e-mail or talk to us in person.

Also, if you are interested in writing about something that you fear might be stale news by the time the newspaper comes out in early June, then send it to us anyway and we’ll put it up on the website.

Thanks!

Neighborhood Watch

By Jonah Rosenblum

All of the following information about the Friends Seminary neighborhood comes from the website http://nyc.everyblock.com, which provides all sorts of information about New York City neighborhoods.

Police Report - The 13th district continues to be a fairly safe place to live and go to school. However, there have been a series of purse-snatchings that have taken place underground in the Friends area. WNBC reported yesterday that a woman had her purse snatched at the 14th Street and 3rd Avenue station at about 9:05am, following which the thief escaped into the subway tunnel. A purse was also snatched at the 1st Avenue L station.

Transportation - Yes, those who travel long distances to get to our school do have it rough. Just check out this New York Observer article about the struggles of the L train: http://www.observer.com/2008/l-train.

And Now the Good Stuff - The business reviews section of this website showed a whole bunch of rankings given to various neighborhood businesses (and apparently schools) by the people at yelp.com. The Cottage got 4 stars. Sadly, Friends only got 3. Most of the 5 reviewers had nice things to say, such as one person who discussed how it was a “really great PRIVATE school” (still not sure why the lady capitalized private) and how much she enjoyed what it was teaching a little girl she knew. A former student commented on the school’s “excellent” student-teacher ratio, the good colleges its students get into, and its focus on independent thought. However, one girl (who seemed to be from Trinity) after complimenting the students and the school, exclaimed that the school is overrated. What? I say we take that as a call for action. It’s time for us to take over yelp.com and write tons of reviews. Together, we can make Friends a 5-star school.

Friends Seminarians Rock the Battle of the Bands

By Miles Arntzen

On a stormy Friday night in early May, an assortment of FS musicians and bands played their hearts out to an engaged crowd in the Meetinghouse. This was the official Friends Seminary Battle of the Bands, and it was exciting. The night started with a bang, and that bang came in the form of CJ Fujimura. He performed a small assortment of his solo music on acoustic guitar and was joined on a couple songs by fellow guitarist Travis Bogosian. The listeners were engaged in his meaningful lyrics and sensual guitarwork, and were left wanting much, much more.

For this and much, much more of Mr. Arntzen’s article, be sure to check out the final issue of the newspaper, which will be coming out in early June. Mr. Arntzen will also be reviewing some albums for the final issue.

Men’s Tennis Clinches League Championship!

Apparently, Quaker education leads to strong athletes.

Friends Seminary’s varsity men’s tennis team had another impressive week, beating Dwight on Tuesday and Packer on Wednesday to put their season record at 8 – 1. The win against Packer clinched the league championship. They had a game scheduled for this afternoon (Thursday), but it was cancelled due to fears of bad weather.

Now, the tennis team eagerly awaits this coming Saturday, the 10th, when the playoffs take place. More to follow, but for now, we congratulate our men’s tennis team on an excellent regular season.

One More Chance

For those of you who missed out on Donovan Hohn’s return to Friends (he was here subbing for Patrick Morrissey, who is away at a conference), there is one more chance. Donovan will be here tomorrow as well, according to a few members of the English Department.

Quaker Consensus of the Bands

By Jonah Rosenblum (Information Provided by Alex DaSilva)

NOTE: Quaker Consensus of the Bands is just another name for the Battle of the Bands that Miles was referring to. Anyway…

Tomorrow Night
6:00 – 8:30
Meetinghouse
And…FREE.

That’s right, tomorrow night (May 9) is the Quaker Consensus of the Bands. This moy caliente (and yes, I will do my best to never use that phrase again) concert is going to feature Maia Pillot, CJ Fujimura, Lucky Red, the Vagabonds, Freundlich and Friends (hint: it involves Nick Freundlich), and the Family (featuring Burke Williams, Dylan Ettlinger, and hair-care expert Alex DaSilva).

Anyone can attend. Even those who are afraid of music (this group has included myself ever since I realized in 8th grade that I sang higher than half the girls in the Bank Street chorus) should take the time to attend. So, come, support, and enjoy.

Meetinghouse. 6:00. Free! What more do you need to know?

SUBMIT TO…PAPER

OK, so admittedly, we don’t have the rhyming talent of our friends over at the Lit Mag, but that’s no reason not to submit an news article, music review, opinion or sports piece, personal diary entry…whatever…to the newspaper. The deadline is this coming Monday (the 12th), so please send something in to either Hayden Hatch, Alexander “Lexie” Singer, or myself.

Thanks,

Jonah

PS – Why have a website when we already have the actual newspaper? If this question has been floating through your mind, just check out the first post on this website, which helps explain why we created the website, and what its purpose is.

Obama Wins North Carolina!

By Jonah Rosenblum

CNN has already projected that North Carolina will be won by Senator Barack Obama. Using exit polls posted on the CNN website, I predict that Obama will win by approximately 5 percentage points.

We will have much more coverage later, using the exit polls to analyze what was going through the minds of voters in Indiana and North Carolina. For now though, it looks like a true split decision. Senators Clinton and Obama look like they will each win a state by approximately 5 points. However, in the larger scheme of things, Senator Obama should add to his delegate lead tonight, since North Carolina has more delegates than Indiana.