(CLICK HERE)–> spring assembly

Three years after her album “The Fall,” contemporary jazz singer Norah Jones released her fifth studio album “Little Broken Hearts” on May 1. Jones joined forces with Danger Mouse (a.k.a Brian Burton) to produce this 12 track record that has given her the potential to make a great comeback.

“Little Broken Hearts” differs from prior albums because of its electronic sound and angst-ridden lyrics that reflect the dark times faced by Jones at the time. With a bit of pent up animosity over a bad breakup, Jones was able to channel her emotions into every track with class and wit.

The album includes songs such as “Good Morning” and “Say Goodbye” that reveal her resignation to a broken relationship with mockery and a juxtaposing cheerful sound to go along with condescending lyrics. “Happy Pills,” on the other hand, has a much more cheerful beat to go along with her harsh words; one can imagine her smiling as she sings, “Trying to make it so I never see your face again.”

The new album has been received with open arms by critics, earning a 3 out of 4 rating from the Washington Post.

“With bluesy and soulful undertones, Jones is leaving her relationship baggage behind,” reporter Erin Williams said. “Giving it its mournful due, but emerging wiser — and better — from the experience.”

As bitter as the album is, “Little Broken Hearts” is so gracefully crafted and does not take away from Jones’ strong, whimsical voice. Jones is able to knock off her old title as “Snorah Jones” and step into an edgier spotlight.

“Little Broken Hearts” currently holds the fifth spot on the iTunes charts and is predicted to make its way up much after the release. The album can be bought at a local Walmart or FYE music store for $12.

The school has placed new vending machines in their halls. However, those new vending machines don’t sell candy bars, chips or cookies. Instead they sell ice creams.

“I like having the ice cream machine. It’s really helpful when you have to wait outside in the hot sun because it’s so refreshing,” sophomore Elijah Gabriel Kalani Pele said.

While students really seem to like this change, many of the schools coaches don’t approve because it isn’t healthy to their athletes. The school’s band director, Manny Talamantes, was the way numerous students used to  get their ice cream. Talamantes shared his thoughts about the machine that took some of his customers.

“I don’t really care because we still sell them for less than a dollar.

I asked Dr. D (principal) about the removal, and she replied that they’re staying because the school needs the money,” Talamantes said.

Originally, Talamantes sold the ice cream as a fundraiser for the band and flag girls since they were constantly competing.

A percussion player for the band sees both sides.

“The ice cream in between classes and everywhere else gets annoying. It makes people sluggish. It’s probably unhealthy for athletes too. They are good though, when its hot outside and they want to get refreshed,” freshman, Nichole Nuñez said.

This years Lip sync contest as students compete to win.

(CLICK HERE)—>Lip sync final

It was a night of entertainment and charity effort at the Lip Sync Contest hosted by DECA as Glee Club won the the $200 prize with their performance of “Bad Romance” by Lady Gaga.

In addition to the the academic organizations winners there were also open-contest winners of the Lip Sync. The rock trio that included Jonathan Huerta, Irvin Galindo and David Sepulveda lip sync their hearts out to Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing” and took home a $300 prize.

Glee member Alyssa Mendoza said she felt good about her first-time performance in the lip sync contest.

“At first I was nervous,” Mendoza said. “But I thought we should have fun, and we did good!”

The open-contest winners said their performance was very spontaneous but enjoyable as well.

“It was the longest four minutes of my life,” Huerta said. “But it was fun, and I hope everyone else had a chance to experience it too.”

Other participants of the Lip Sync Contest included Softball, Baseball, ROTC, DECA, Choir and special performances from Lily Acuña, Emily Martinez, and Louie Davila.

DECA coordinator Julie Oshiro was proud to say that many of her students actively participated in and volunteered at the Lip Sync. According to Oshiro, the entire event was a success.

“The lip sync was great.We had over$300 people attend,” Oshiro said. “But I would have liked to see more organizations participate.”

By the end of the night, DECA raised $684 in addition to the $1,000 they raised by selling Shamrocks in March and a$500donation from TFCU. All proceeds will be going to the local Muscular Dystrophy Association to help individuals in our area who suffer from muscular dystrophy and for the advancement of research.

Texting while driving at any speed is dangerous and should be illegal in Texas. This is like driving after having drunk four beers. Easily one can tell the person is bound to be in an accident. Statistics show that 11 teens die every day because of texting while driving. This dangerous activity calls for a law banning it.

In Texas there is no law against texting. This past January, the Texas House of Representatives tried passing a law against the issue twice and both times the bill was ignored. One was sent to Texas Governor Rick Perry for his signature but was vetoed by him because he said the law is an “effort to micromanage the behavior of adults.”

The governor is forgetting that it is not just adults behind the wheel but teens, as well. It’s common sense that texting while driving is an unintelligent thing to do. Texas should take a stand and review the truth over texting and driving. Illegalizing the use of electronic devices will keep the rate of deaths lower than it is today at Texas.

About 30 states have made texting while driving illegal. Why is it so hard for Texas to do the same? The state of Texas should not think about it twice, this issue should be banned.

Varsity Girls Basketball District 1-5 A MVP:

• Yesenia Cazares

First Team All District:

• Alanis Candeleria

• Gabby Vega

• Jacinda Woodruff

 Honorable Mention:

• Jessica Hernandez

Varsity Boys Basketball All-District 1-5 A:

• Josh Gallegos

Texas Association of Basketball Coaches Academic All State:

• Andre Frigyes

• Christopher Hernandez

District 1-5 A Academic All District (For having a 90 GPA of higher and for lettering):

• Andre Frigyes

• Josh Gallegos

• Christopher Hernandez

• Vince Leal

• Julio Rodriguez

• Aashir Sohail

• Kevin Vicencio

Academic All-District Athletic:

• Joel Nunez- Football

• Aaron Lopez- Football

• Jaime Rojas- Football

• David Moton- Football

• Hyde De La Rosa- Athletic Trainer

• Biana Gonzalez- Athletic Trainer

• Valerie Lozano- Athletic Trainer

• Cllissa Quezada- Cheerleader

• Courtney Dominguez- Volleyball

• Amanda Macias- Volleyball

• Brenda Rangel- Volleyball

• Joel Hernandez- Cross Country

• Lizette Gutierrez- Cross Country

• Amanda Calanche- Cross Country

• Carmen Kirstein- Cross Country

• Daniel Martinez- Tennis

• Alyssa Garcia- Tennis

• Lisa Garcia- Tennis

• Jessica Corral- Dance

• Laura Moore- Dance

• Stephanie Torres- Dance

Junior English teacher Ms. Barragan stands incarcerated as she asks for bail money.

Future Business Leaders of America’s March of Dimes fundraiser continued with the Jail and Bail April 13.

For only $5 students were able to put staff members, even the principal, in jail. The prisoners were taken to the lobby and sentenced for their whole conference period unless they made bail with the $10 fee.  The principal and assistant principals’  bail out fee though was $100.

“The main idea was not for the prisoners to have the money ready ,instead it’s so they can call students or people to bring them a dollar or more,” sponsor of FBLA Terry Lopez said.

FBLA wanted to get the whole student body involved so they could therefore help bail out their teachers or staff.

“The Jail & Bail was new this year. I think the students enjoyed it,” freshman Gimena Ramirez said.

The March of Dimes raises money for premature babies and other problems they might encounter.  The mission is to help local communities so that mothers can take charge of their health.  Not only is the March of Dimes locally, but also it is a global organization that helps mothers prevent premature birth and birth defects.  The March of Dimes wants to help improve the health of the baby.

“For the Jail and Bail we are hoping to have raise at least $800,” Ramirez said.

FBLA went above what they had expected to raise for the Jail and Bail.

“Sadly, this is our last major event helping the March of Dimes. But over $1,100 was collected Friday and we still have some pledges,”  Lopez said.

As of last Wednesday no one had paid for the Jail in Bail. It seemed it was going to be a fail.

“Luckily the Jail and Bail was a success everyone worked together and got into it,”  Lopez said.

Most of the teachers and staff went over the bail fee that was needed.  AP Laura Carrera brought in $200 in her time in “jail.”

“Jail and Bail was fun and it is all for a good cause,”  counselor Pat Almeida said.

Edited By Ashely Castaneda

Bel Air’s 2012 Ysleta Education Foundation Scholarship recipients.

(CLICK HERE)—> YsletaFoundation

Title: Akagami no Shirayukihime

Alternative titles:

Akagami no Shirayuki-hime,

Red God Princess Snow White,

Red God Snow White,

Red God Snow White Princess,

Red God White Snow Princess,

Red-haired Princess Snow White,

Red-haired Snow White,

Red-ha

author: Akizuki Sorata

Genres: Fantasy, Romance, Shoujo (generally for girl audience)

status: completed

Akizuki Sorata’s “Akagami no Shirayukihime,” a wonderful manga, (Japanese graphic novel-English translated) about a young girl named Shirayuki with unique apple-red hair, she escapes from her home land and the foolish prince Raji, who wanted to make her his concubine because of her very unusual hair color. As she escapes to the neighboring country she bumps into a young boy named Zen. After helping Zen and his friends out she is called back to her country first by a threat of kidnap in the shape of a poisoned apple which Zen eats in the place of Shirayuki. Coming up with a plan the group of friends go to Shirayuki’s homeland and make a proposal to let her continue to live in the neighboring country. During the process Shirayuki finds out Zen’s true identity as the second prince. When Raji was frightened into letting Shirayuki go live at the neighboring country, she goes there happily with her new friends determined to stay by Zen’s side and to study at the palace to be a physician.

With an optimistic heroine and a prince who constantly stays on her watch, this story has many twist and turns that keep readers laughing, sighing and just plain old enjoying this book. This manga is thrilling with its many scenarios where enemies become friends and trusted comrades and family test the boundaries of love; whatever it is readers find adventure everywhere in this interesting little romance. This book is an interesting twist to the story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, provided that the beginning starts out as such but soon flows away from the stories concept after the first few chapters. With it’s interesting characters and hilarious adventures this book has readers sighing and laughing many times as they read.

The status of the story so far is completed though with an unsatisfying end that leaves readers wondering; is that really it? Don’t worry reader the next chapter will be found in no time. The genre(s) for this manga is fantasy, romance, shoujo (generally marketed to a girl audience, roughly between the ages of 10 and 18). This book is interesting in the many trials and romance that just keeps things interesting throughout the whole story. Readers would love to observe and compare the characters reactions in these books to real life, seeing how similar and different they are to reality.

Readers can find these books online to read free with many manga/anime sites to visit such as http://mangafox.me/manga/akagami_no_shirayukihime/, www.mangareader.net/, and more. Generally this book is very hard to find so reading it online is best.

Tina Fey’s “BossyPants” captivates the audience by with it’s intense humor.  “BossyPants” is not a typical memoir instead it’s filled with out loud bursts of laughter.

The book because of it’s amazing writing was on the NewYork bestsellers for the April edition.  “BossyPants” is about Fey’s childhood events, teenage years, and adult years, all which are written with never ending humor.

“Tina Fey is an ugly, pear-shaped, ******, overrated troll,”

Not only humor will be found in this book but also the ongoing idea that women are not weak like most men seem to think.  She depicts women as being strong and independent.  Fey is in reality the “BossyPants” of the story (for she has her own television show “30 Rock” which employs a lot of people).  Fey has made it “big” in America in a profession  run by typically by  men.  She made into show business but not by showing nudity or by being the ideal American “beauty,” but by her creativity and humor.

“BossyPants” also goes on about how women always seem to find something wrong with themselves.  The idea that women need to be beautiful to make it big in life or in show business is opposed by Fey.     She proved that by  intelligence and by commitment, women can make it big in a men’s profession.

This book has the perfect balance between spiky humor and captivating writing.  People around will look at you weird while reading this book, for the audience won’t be able to hold down their laughter (beginning at the first page).

Even the trees seem to love it.

“Totally worth it”–Trees.

***** 5 stars