The Show Goes On Despite Controversy

by Eric Humphrey

Judge Memorial's decision to produce the popular Broadway musical, "Rent: School Edition," has raised a few eyebrows among the Catholic community and those abroad due to its edgy content. "Rent," centered in an impoverished neighborhood in New York City, focuses on issues that some say are inappropriate for a high school audience.

"My concern is that at a Catholic high school, even with the toned down version, I don't think ["Rent"] is age appropriate without having an alternate perspective so that young students have a Christian perspective of those hard social issues," says Deacon John Kranz of St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church. Kranz, who filled in for the sick Monsignor Mannion during the Sunday mass, discussed, in his homily, the necessity for high school students to be shown the positives in life. Parents who have approached him regarding "Rent" find fault with what Kranz describes as, "[Judge's] lack of a Catholic viewpoint."

However, this controversy in not confined to Salt Lake City's Catholic community. Blogs such as "moonbattery.com" and "orthometer.blogspot.com" have been the sites of brutal spitefulness between those who want "Rent" banned and those who support the production. KSL's appearance at director's night and subsequent news story brought further publicity to Judge's production and with it, broader criticism.

Local conservative radio host, Doug Wright, questioned Judge's choice of play and the issue of homosexuality dominated his discussions. Judge's own principal, Mr. Rick Bartman, phoned into the Doug Wright Show to defend his school's choice of performance.

"[Rent] addresses issues that kids in a diverse community are confronted with on a daily basis...the base of the play is sense of community and inclusion and sense of looking at opportunity," Bartman told Wright, "It's about young people trying to make it, make a difference, follow their dreams." However Wright persistently questioned Bartman's judgment to allow a Catholic school to perform a play that might glorify homosexuality. To this allegation, Bartman challenged Wright to, "find a person infected with HIV or even full blown AIDS that glorifies their situation," adding, "the Church does not condone homosexual behavior acted upon but welcomes homosexual persons as a part of our community." The podcast of Rick Bartman's interview on The Doug Wright Show can be found on KSL.com.

Darin Hathaway, director of "Rent" head of the drama department, seemed confused at the existence of any sort of controversy, and for good reason. "I had a parent meeting with every student who wanted to audition for Rent. I received nothing but support from the parents," said Hathaway referring to a mandatory meeting for all parents of students who auditioned, "This meeting was an opportunity for parents to express concerns about the production." For parents, this was their chance to read the high school script, discuss "Rent's" edgy content, and ultimately decide whether it is appropriate for high school students. "I received positive comments and excitement," revealed Hathaway, "I heard nothing but support from parents."
In spite of the controversy, the show did go on. "Rent: School Edition" debuted October 22 in the Judge auditorium.

English Quest

Friday, February 27th, 24 bulldogs ventured to Weber for the annual English Quest. This is the 4th year Judge has participated, and our bulldogs have always been successful in this English competition. It is a "contest that began in St. George years ago" says Ms. Simpson, who takes the English Quest participants under her wing each year. The small event that took place at Snow College, turned statewide about 6 years ago. The winners for this years competition have not been announced yet, but several bulldogs were finalists: Laura Lighty, Pat Thompson, Tom Luchs, Kelsey Hom, Sean Sweeney and Katie Harrington. Students took on feats such as persuasive essay writing, personal narrative, character sketch, spelling bee, poster making, an editing test, designing a book cover, poetry and creating a photo essay. "There have always been competitions for sports, drama, debate...but this is the only competition I know to both celebrate and compete for all language arts." says Simpson. It is a chance for students strong in English to "take it to performance". The other participants included Mary Morgan, Nicholas McDonald, Emily Andrews, Lydia Gardynik, Mike Sayre, Lizz Graham, Craig Domeier, Ben Davis, Jackie Graham, Patrick Boner, Chelsey Rodriguez, Jamie Pisciotta, Lukas Richards, Sam Highsmith, Jade Martinsen, Ryan Sabol, Nickie Worth and Sierra Brimhall. Simpson adds, "A lot of what you do in English, who sees it?" but these bulldogs got a great chance to show off their writing, speaking, poetry, photography and design skills. Congratulations!

Simplot Games: Throwing, Long Distance, and Hurdles.

The clocks ran as soon as the Judge team walked into the stadium. Two and a half hours in and out of sleep on a bus, and the indoor track team had finally made it to Pocatello, Idaho. It was late afternoon by this time, around four o'clock, and there was barely time to prepare for the first race, the 3200 meters. Runners began to jog around the track, and around the campus near the stadium, though many weren't looking too overworked, for 16 laps around a 200 meter track, the first four could substitute a proficient warm-up.
In these races competed senior Lizzie Hindert, freshman Conner Liston, and freshman Jordan Higley. Each person pulling through their monotonous events, and finishing decently. Along with physical endurance, these competitors required an esteemed level of patience for the 7 heats of the boys mile, and 5 heats for the girls ranging from 9 to 14 mintues per race.
During the seldom exciting exhibit of the 2 mile, reigned weight throw in the center of the ring. Sophomore Ofa Vaisima competed in the weight throw the first Thursday of the Simplot games, and then entered the shot put on for the second night. Ofa has been throwing for two years now, and throws roughly 28 ft. in shot put, her main event. However after her second year competing in the tournament, she was especially proud to have thrown further than her sister, a Senior at Woods Cross High.

Simplot Games: short distance and high jump

Last weekend the Judge Memorial track and field team traveled to Pocatello, Idaho to participate in the annual Simplot gamse, and the bulldogs really excelled. In the 200 meters, junior Kiersten Berg got first place in her heat, even though she was running in the first lane. The first lane is the hardest lane to run in because it is set farthest back and has the steepest curve around the end of the track. Junior Christian Barbiero and sophomore Kevin Ortiz also surpassed in the 200. Paul Clark did very well and was in one of the fastest heats for the 60 meter dash. Mary Morgan, a sophomore, joined Camille Overmoe, Kiersten Berg, and Lizzie Hindert to compete in the Medley relay, while Linda Frank mastered the high jump, jumping over the bar at 4'10''.

Our Town Premiere Tonight

The main stage production this year, Our Town, premieres tonight at 7:00 pm in the Judge Memorial Auditorium. It is directed by our drama and tech teacher Darin Hathaway and stars Pat Thompson, Lexie S. Allen, Nick Shifrar, Alice Gonzalez, Ashlyn Lozano, Lukas Richards, and Ryan Sabol. Our Town is a three act play, meaning there are three intermissions. During these intermissions, donations will be collected for the Road Home charity. If you can't make this performance, you will have the opportunity to attend on Friday or Saturday.

Freshmen Girl's Basketball: Undefeated

All the Girl's Basketball teams are tough to beat. The Varsity squad is heading into the playoffs as region champs and they finished with a regular season record of 19-2. The Freshmen Girls went undefeated, 17-0, in the regular season. Then won the next two games in the Freshmen tournament for an overall record of 19-0 . Their success reflects the hard work of the upperclassmen and the talent of the underclassmen. With the skill of all the teams in the program Judge Girls' Basketball can only get better. Make sure to support your Lady Bulldogs Varsity this Saturday, but don't forget the Freshmen as they play in the semi-finals this Thursday at Judge.

13th South - Illegal Beagle

Boy's Tennis Preview

As spring begins, it means something important for a group of
bulldogs: boy's tennis is starting. After pulling an upset victory in
the 2008 season, the bulldogs are the current 3A state champions and
are hoping to keep it for at least another year. Despite some
graduating players, the varsity team still has depth. Andrew Lamb,
Trey Kennedy, David May, and Kolbe Newton should be returning to the
team for the 2009 season, along with other players. The tennis season
will begin in early March and the bulldogs will start the search for
another state title.

Chamber Night

In the midst of what would be the off-season for Judge Memorial's orchestra and band, seeing as there are no major concerts until the month of May, Chamber Night is a chance for the individual performers to showcase their work. Every February Ramona Mayer organizes Chamber Night; this recital is a collection of soloists, duets and even some quartets. The pieces that are performed are not rehearsed in the early mornings of class, but on the musician's own time, making this a very personal concert.

On the types of music that will be performed Ramona Mayer said, "I encourage classical, but over the years, jazz, Broadway, soft pop and other genres have been added. The idea is to perform close-up and personal with the audience and that often supercedes the style choices. Rap, hip-hop, and alternative are still out, though!"

Be sure and celebrate the talents of your fellow classmates on February 12th at 7:00 PM in the Music Room (across the hall from the auditorium). Admission to watch professional level music being performed by high school students is free and treats will be provided. Come and support!

Girls' Junior Varsity Soccer

Are you looking for a new extra-curricular activity to do here at Judge? Soccer might just be the perfect idea. I recently sat down with a soccer player, Shiona Smith. We talked about how she has enjoyed playing this sport so much.

"It was really fun to get to meet new people before coming to Judge, because on the first day of school I wasn't as nervous as I could have been because I knew a lot of the freshman already." Shiona replies. "It's a really fun sport and I encourage everyone and anyone to get involved." She has been playing soccer since she was just five years old and her favorite position is defense.

This year there is a new soccer coach. Shiona says that she just recently met him and is very excited to get to know him more out on the field. "This season, I am really looking forward to getting to know the new coach." Shiona says smiling. "I'm also looking forward to new training and conditioning."

"I would tell anyone to get involved in soccer. It's fun, it gets you moving." I can tell how excited Shiona is about this upcoming season. "I love getting to interact with the other players and the coaches. It's a great way to get to know new people."

Shiona's advice to future soccer players is, "Try your hardest and do your best, don't be put down by the fact that someone else is better than you." The season will be starting soon. If you would like information on how to get involved with the soccer team, please contact Wayne Voorhes.

Girls Golf

Spring sports are now upon us and the girl's golf team is one of the sports quickly gaining interest. The number of senior girls now looking to play the sport has grown drastically since last year, not to mention the several juniors and underclassmen planning to join the team. The girls will start practice on March 2nd under the coaching of Patty Brimley and they are all very excited to start playing. "It's mostly about learning and the experience, but we are all really excited to play," said senior Marquel Reddish. The girls will compete in 6 upcoming tournaments and they are all hoping for the best.

Bulldog Basketball

This week is a big week for Judge basketball; the Varsity boys' team had a 40-39 win over Wasatch leaving them with a 7-0 region record. The Varsity girls had a tough 50-51 loss to the Wasps; this leaves them with a region record of 6-1. Wednesday the freshmen girls and boys will take on Highland, while the sophomore and JV boys will play Wasatch. Sophomore, JV and Varsity boys and girls all take on Uintah on Thursday. Good luck bulldogs!

Our Team, Our Town, Our State

With basketball state championships and the opening of the main stage production on the horizon, Judge students everywhere are getting pumped up and excited. Whether part of the cast or part of the team, we are all part of the community- and that's why JM's Student Council created "Our Team, Our Town, Our State". You've heard it all before: As a community, it's important to support each other in every way. But now's the time to enforce it- Judge is getting ready for some amazing things.

"I'm having a lot of fun- I'm really excited-it's my last year," says Varsity Basketball member Danny Franks. The team hasn't qualified yet- but things look promising. With a region record of 7-0, the boys are well on their way to the glory of the state title.

On February 2, students piled into the auditorium for Judge's first ever Directors Night, in honor of Our Town. As Mr. Hathaway says: "The play is the closest thing you can get to classic American." Although the play has a dry script, it is infused with meaning and emotion that are present in the lives of real people. Our Town is moving and deep, it explores the deepest sense of community possible. Our Town premiers on February 19th and closes the 21st.
So, with these two big events looming in the distance, it's time to gather your friends and support your school, whether part of the team or in the bleachers. Reserve those tickets and practice your cheers, because it's Our Team, Our Town, Our State.