“We’re really excited that we’re able to give Garfield a retreat this year” says senior and CORE member Elena Kazanjian. “All year everyone’s been asking us about when we’re going to have a retreat, and it feels good to tell people when it’s going to be because we weren’t even sure if we could do one.”

Reasons as to why the group hasn’t been able to organize off campus events have been widely speculated. It’s been no mystery that the group has been struggling financially, largely due to the fact that last years CORE left with a $9,000 deficit.

“We’ve been dealing with a lot of financial issues for the past couple months” says senior and CORE member Michael Haruta. “The debt and lack of communication with administration is what has been stalling us.”

Although the group has held a number of forums, the retreats remained the main attraction for the student body.

“I’ve liked the forums, but what I really want is a retreat” says junior Katie Trettenero. “I’ve never been on one, but I’ve heard that that’s where all the bonding happens and I want to experience that.”

The retreats a are relatively new component to the Cultural Relations program which has been in effect at Garfield since the 1990s. The program used to be mainly centered around school events. There was a Cultural Relations day at Garfield where the whole school would participate in forums and other activities, similar to those facilitated on retreats.

“The reason why we host retreats is to give students more of an intimate environment because some of the subjects we discuss are very personal” explains Kazangian. “But our goal this year is to make the program more than just the retreats because we’re trying to get more of the Garfield community involved.”

(Full disclosure: the author is a member of CORE.)

Born under the Nickels Administration as the Mayor’s Youth Council, the group was established in order to advise the mayor on a variety of topics related to youth concerns, including juvenile delinquency, law enforcement and the effectiveness of programs aimed at Seattle youth. Under the new mayor of Seattle Mike McGinn, the program has been renamed the Seattle Youth Commission, although its role as a youth advocacy group in city government is still fundamentally the same. It’s comprised of 25 members from around the city, five each from Ballard, Central, Southwest, Northeast and Southeast Seattle.

The commission gathers the material for their mayoral sessions from community meetings, held once a year in each of the five areas its members are drawn from. The annual Central District meeting was held just before winter break, and it was run in part by Abby Chin-Martin, a senior at Holy Names Academy in Capitol Hill. Chin-Martin joined the Commission a year ago.

“I remember being in class and hearing a guy ask, ‘How can the government represent us if we don’t vote?’” she says. Inspired, she decided to apply to the Council. Roughly 50 students apply each year, a process which involves answering a 10 question application, getting two adult recommendations and undergoing multiple interviews.

The meeting began with introductions, promises of pizza and a few ice breakers. After about 15 minutes of pleasantries, two-year Commission veteran Zabia Colovos finished up and got to the point, saying “Now, you guys tell us what you’re worried about, and we’ll talk to the mayor.”

Note cards were distributed, and attendees were instructed to list their top youth concern in the City of Seattle. The three most popular concerns, gang violence, police brutality and racism, were put up on a piece of posterboard, and the crowd of about 40 split up depending on which topic interested them most.

After 20 minutes of discussion, everyone came back together and each group presented possible solutions to their group’s problem. The police group’s findings, focusing on more community oversight, elicited a positive audience response. The gang violence group advocated for better education on gangs in schools, while the racism group didn’t have a solution, concluding that race relations were tense but deeply rooted. After a thank you by the Commission members, the meeting adjourned.

After these community meetings, the Commission will meet, and eventually “They’ll get to present policy recommendations to both the mayor and the city council,” according to Jenny Frankl, a program coordinator. This will be the first year that the Commission gets to present to both the council and the mayor, lending them legislative and executive influence in the city’s policy making process.

As she stacked chairs, Colovos said that it had been “a pretty typical meeting.” The 40 or so attendees represented a solid cross-section of both public and private schools in central Seattle. Three boys had come from Washington Middle School because of a flyer they had seen advertising free pizza, along with girls from Holy Names, a few boys from Lakeside, several from Garfield, a couple kids from Nova, and a handful of individuals who had graduated or who had dropped out.

The Seattle Youth Commission meets at least once a month to hold their committee meetings and draft policy proposals, and they hold their community meetings annually.

Frankl said that “the council meetings are a lot different from these [community meeting].” The mood is more business like, with the commission focused on writing policy proposals that have a legitimate shot at affecting city policy. When pressed for past commission successes, the members running the meeting explained that because most only spend a year or two on the commission, it’s difficult to chart how successful the commission had been in the past. It’s a sizeable time commitment, but Chin-Martin says,

“By being a part of this commission, it’s helped me believe that I can make a direct difference in the community.”

A list of current Commission members, information about applications and agendas for past meetings can all be found at seattle.gov/neighborhoods/syc/.

“I’ve been sensing a lot of dissatisfaction in the past couple years,” says Junior Statesman of America (JSA) member Caleb Raible-Clark. “Students are upset about schools closing, the WASL, district dance policies, and standardization of classes, among other things.”

The idea was first vocalized in a meeting of the Garfield JSA club, and has since gathered a strong following on Facebook through the group “Lower Voting Age for School Board Elections Across Washington State.” Advised by political organizations such as the Washington Bus and the National Youth Rights Association, Facebook group is made up of over 1,500 online supporters. Its goal is to amend the bill RCW 29A.08 in order to provide students entering high school the right to vote for their district school board. According to Raible-Clark, once the group reaches 15,000 supporters, they will start talking to state legislators in order to craft a bill that a representative would bring to the House floor. If the bill passed, it would allow students to influence policies that directly affect them and, supporters hope, inspire Washington’s youth to become more interested in politics.

“Politics is not a spectator sport,” says Raible-Clark. “This initiative could help to foster a political mindset earlier on.”

In the spirit of this goal, the group also hopes to use the interest and support they have generated to get a student representative on every school board in the state, in a non-voting, advisory role. Each representative would be in charge of counseling the board as to what students  in their area really want.  Students hope that having the attention of board members will lead to policies more in keeping with student needs, even without student board votes.

“When a group of people is removed from the electorate, it’s easy to pass something that sounds good, but … will upset students,” says Raible-Clark.

As with any revolutionary idea, the proposal to lower the voting age also has its detractors. Many students have argued on the group’s discussion board that their own age group is not yet politically aware enough to make such decisions, citing problems from student indifference to organized resistence.

“Students might be impatient and not be willing accept the difficult decisions school board members must make,” writes one critic. Another says that “students (in general) want stuff like less hours, more breaks, more dances, and other nonessential and non/anti academic things.” It certainly is a valid concern that high school students will be less than enthusiastic about voting – after all, America’s youth consistently have one of the lowest voter turnouts in national elections. However, the National Youth Rights Association believes that in general, granting youth the vote at an earlier age will form good habits and have “a direct effect on their character, intelligence and sense of responsibility.», and that such generalizations are not representative of the overall student population. Meanwhile, the students behind the movement believe that the fact that voters will be participating in elections that affect them more directly will have a positive impact on turnout.

“The reason why we are bringing up the idea of lowering the voting age for the school board is because we want our voices to be heard,” says JSA member Annie Schlossman. “You can claim that there are irresponsible students, but as a group we are not irresponsible. We care about where the money for our schools is going, we care about who represents us, we care about what decisions they make and we believe that we should have a vote for the people that will be making the decisions.”

There is also the thought that simply giving students the right to vote would increase interest and activity in politics in schools.

“The voting could be offered in schools,” says Raible-Clark, “which would increase turnout and give teachers incentive to discuss politics more in the classroom.”

Those involved in the movement are encouraging students to make their opinions on lowering the voting age heard by writing letters,  to and otherwise contacting members of the Seattle School Board and representatives in the state House and Senate. There will also be an after school event at Garfield High School in the near future to raise awareness of the issue.

On January fifth, the original advocates of the case, led by Muhammad Shabazz Farrakhan, convinced the 9th District Court to overturn a precedent and rule in their favor, agreeing with the plaintiffs’ original claims. For those unfamiliar with legal jargon, such as myself, this court is one level below the U.S. Supreme Court.

The inmates claimed that revoking every felon’s right to vote violated the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which guaranteed equal voting opportunity to racial minorities. Central to the case was their claim that the state’s criminal justice system discriminated against racial minorities, to the point that a quarter of African-Ameican males in Washington are unable to vote.

Farrakahan brought to the Court the statistics that, compared to whites, African-Americans are four times as likely to be arrested for violent crimes in the state of Washington, but are nine times more likely to be in prison. The plaintiffs asserted that taking away felons’ right to vote, while not inherently racist, is unequal treatment given our justice system.

No one has argued that the newly-highlighted institutional racism in our justice system doesn’t exist. Some Washington voters however, including Garfield senior Neil Hinnant, believe that giving felons the vote isn’t a valid solution to the problem.

“This is a societal problem that, at its roots, will not be solved by allowing felons to vote,” says Hinnant. “Society and history have created a socioeconomic trend that causes minorities to be more likely to commit felony offenses.”

Washington State Attorney General Rob McKenna announced soon after the decision that he plans to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court, or at least to a larger panel of judges. The district court responded by suspending their ruling until the appeal is considered.

Whether the case serves to spark an investigation into the discrimination in our justice system or to actually reverse felon disenfranchisement laws, Washington will be setting a precedent.

Magic: The Gathering has more than a gathering of followers. Played by two or more people, this card game combines creatures, spells, sorcery and quick thinking to establish a victor. Equipped with a deck, one can challenge any takers in an attempt to reduce the opponent’s life points from 20 to zero. But don’t be fooled by the seemingly simple set up. There is complexity deeply rooted within the game; the thousands of cards and abilities available amount to an extremely diverse and unique game.

Magic is often subjected to disdain and categorized with the likes of Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh, the same all-too-familiar childhood games that everybody thought died out in the 1990s.

However, this one did not. In fact, Magic has recently encountered a rise in popularity. Garfield itself contains a number of Magic players, and is host to a weekly Magic Club. Those who can swallow their pride and play the game find that, well, it’s fun.

“It started out with the pictures on the cards,” says senior Wilson Platt. “They originally drew me into the game. As I got older, the intricacies of the game kept me playing. No two games are alike.”

The decks range in color, with each color representing the theme of the deck. For example, Red represents fire while  blue represents water. Each of these themes carries with it unique abilities, such as rejuvenation of health or brute strength.

The colors, although separate in the abilities they contain, are also capable of being mixed and matched, with two or three colors per deck. In this way, limitless combinations can be drawn and each game is different

Some players take it to the next level and enter tournaments. Travis Woo, a 2008 Garfield graduate, has entered tournaments to win cash prizes and competed on the Magic Pro Tour. Others compete to earn booster packs, which generally include 15 cards.

“I play in tournaments and bet my booster packs, and when I win I can go home and make my deck even stronger!” says junior Julien Kos.

Typically players will bet three booster packs and play multiple games. Booster packs come cheap, but many find themselves buying huge amounts as they add up. Comparable to gambling, these “high stakes” tournaments are not for everybody.

“Most of the time, at least when I’ve competed, it’s mostly just to advance on to bigger tournaments. The more you win, the better of people you play,” says Platt. Magic players can thus gain money, valuable cards, and experience.

People unfamiliar with the game, however, question the integrity of it as a whole.

“Magic … what the f*** is Magic?” says senior Joseph Lucia.

It is true that, while it seems to go hand-to-hand with the widespread Pokemon, many people still do not know about Magic or all it has to offer. They may have never heard of it growing up, or just chalked it off as a waste of time. The origins of most avid players infatuation with the game stem back to childhood days. Kids that grew up buying playing cards generally familiarized themselves with the various games. By the time Magic became popular again, these same kids were already good and able to jump right back into it.

“I used to be one of those people, thinking Magic was strictly for basement-dwellers, until somebody taught me how to play,” says junior Eli Zavatsky. “Me and Eli (Higham) played in his basement one day, and the next day we brought it to school and a bunch of people wanted to play. That’s when we decided to start Magic Club.”

Magic Club, or Magic: The Gathering: Gathering (yes, twice), holds weekly meetings in Spang’s room. The atmosphere is intense. Battles line the tables and conversation is sparse, other than the clash of verbal spell casting.

All ranges of experience are welcome, and each deck has its own advantages and disadvantages. This makes nobody undefeatable, and gives opportunities to all newcomers.

If you haven’t gotten with the program yet, Magic is cool. You can win money, gain good experience and have fun with your friends.

Many a spare hour can be spent in the clutches of a zombie deck, or fighting off a flying bird or Minotaur Warrior. Magic brings a variety of people together and forms bonds between friends. And it is only growing, so skeptics, beware.

In the great words of Tala Vertan, Makindi shieldmate, “Quit pontificating, mage. Only on the battlefield can we repay all the Order has given us.”

Across the GHS club scene, presidents and members alike have been peddling everything from baked goods to llama-blazoned sweatshirts in an attempt to escape the general lack of funds seen by many clubs at Garfield.

One club, the mentoring program, has been extremely limited by a lack of funding, to the point of being unable to expand.

“We want to give all mentors something to give to their freshman,” says Garfield Senior and Lead Mentor Zoe Kaiser. “We have a goal to make mentoring t-shirts, but there’s no money from ASB at all.”

Clubs at Garfield have a history of being mostly self-funded, but in order to be officially allowed to do any fundraising, the clubs are supposed to apply to the student government for approval. According to Garfield Senior and ASG vice president Michael Cunetta however, there is money readily available to clubs who pursue it.

“If they need funding, they’re always able to ask for money from the general ASB account,” says Cunetta.

The Garfield Messenger, a longtime fundraising giant and arguably the flyest club at Garfield, is especially poor. Due to loss of support from a range of sources, writers and photographers alike have taken to selling dozens of glazed Krispy Creme donuts and begging on the street for donations. If you notice a decline in the quality of life around school, there’s a good chance that the problem lies in the decreased number of issues the paper is able to produce this year.

Garfield’s Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), the team behind the uniquely influential cultural relations retreats, has also recently entered onto the fundraising scene. Normally a financially stable club, trouble with payments from the retreat last spring left CORE in debt and unsure of how to get out.

“There’s ambiguity as to whether we can or can’t host retreats if we’re in debt and they’re our main source of income,” says CORE member Paloma Contreras. “We’ve heard different things from different people.”

Also fighting the restrictions of clubbin’ in the recession is Future Billionare Investors, or FBI.

“The whole point of FBI club is to invest money as a team,” says Garfield Junior and FBI president Gali Russel. “We need the money to invest; without that we don’t really have anything to do in the club.”

Russel voices the problems that a lot of GHS clubs bump up against when trying to expand.

“We’re just starting out and can’t come up with any creative ways of raising cash,” says Russel.

Heifer Club, on the other hand, exists mostly as an entity that raises money, which it uses to purchase farm animals for families that don’t otherwise have the means. In the past year, they’ve hit on one of the most successful fundraising ideas visible at Garfield.

The livestock club has recently finished selling their second batch of plain, pullover sweatshirts featuring the outline of an animal on the front. The current line features a llama on the front, and at 15 dollars a piece, the club plans to reign in a couple hundred dollars.

The newly reinstated club Students Against Violence Everywhere (SAVE) has come up with a source of funding less reliant on the generosity of the Garfield community.

“Fortunately SAVE has a good sum of money from the Mayor’s millions that he sent out in youth violence prevention,” says Garfield junior and SAVE co-president Emerson North.

SAVE’s goals encompass strengthening programs that reach out to disadvantaged youth, and reducing violence citywide. All of this requires at least some money to be feasible, but the Garfield Mentoring program needs to expand to improve their reputation.

“It would probably smooth over teacher-mentor relations,” says Kaiser. “They can’t really see the effort we put in just by reading an email.”

Garfield puts itself out there as a school where there’s a club for every kid. We advertise the diversity of student groups and the opportunities they hold for those who put in the time. This still holds true, though the club of your choice may be struggling to expand over financial fallout.

Originally, both pieces of equipment were supposed to be part of a new pre-engineering class at Garfield: Project Lead the Way (PLTW). Theoretically, the class would offer Garfield students a uniquely engaging, hands-on introduction to engineering.

“The district picks and chooses what programs it wants to invest in,” says Principal Ted Howard II. “When the building was renovated, it was decided that Garfield would implement Project Lead the Way, so [the district] went out and bought all the materials.”

In addition to purchasing the 3D printer and the laser engraver, the district also invested in a robotic arm, nearly 30 robots, and other costly technology.

“We have a whole bunch of equipment that’s ostensibly to teach students about beginning engineering concepts,” says Helene Martin, who teaches the new creative computing and computer science classes at Garfield.

According to Martin’s estimates, the total value of the equipment may exceed $200,000.

Unfortunately, PLTW never became fully operational at Garfield. The curriculum demands a teacher with a strong engineering background.

“We couldn’t find anyone that would actually teach PLTW,” says Howard. “We ended up going through five or six teachers.”

According to Howard, these teachers lacked the background necessary to teach or were unwilling to teach the PLTW curriculum. Ultimately, the district decided to offer computer science as a substitute.

“There’s a lot in computer science that you would get from a pre-engineering program,” says Martin. “You have critical thinking, you have hands-on applied knowledge, and you have a lot of tie-in from math and science.”

Moreover, the new computer science classes are economically viable.

“There’s no equipment need,” says Martin. “My operation is free; my software is free; basically everything I’m doing is free.”

Garfield’s replacement computer programming class also avoids some of the other drawbacks of PLTW curricula.

“PLTW programs try to cater to people that are more vocational as well as to people that are more academic,” says Martin. “But trying to be somewhere in the middle generally means it ends up catering to nobody.”

Another concern that Martin has with PLTW curricula is that it suffers from the amount of prep time required for student use of the machinery.

“Realistically, it’ll take three weeks to complete safety training for a class of at least 26 students,” says Martin. “How much time is anyone going to have on the laser engraver?”

Howard also seems to lean in favor of Garfield’s new computer programming classes.

“The Career and Technical Education department did a survey,” says Howard. “Turns out, what the students are really interested in is programming and computer science.”

Still, Howard hopes that PLTW’s pre-engineering class will soon be offered at Garfield.

“The district really wants us to do [PLTW],” says Howard. “We’ll just have to see what happens with the budget.”

But for Garfield to offer PLTW’s pre-engineering class, it will need to find a teacher.

“The only person in the building that has that background is Mr. [Alan] Carpenter,” says Howard. “I hope that next year we will be able to get PLTW off the ground, but it will take someone that is very invested in the building.”

One day, students may be able to use the 3D printer or the laser engraver, but until that day, PLTW isn’t going to be very “hands-on” after all.

“A member of S.W.A.G will paint a large bulldog face on a 10-foot by 10-foot canvas,” said Emily Proulx, founder of S.W.A.G. The club plans on then cutting the canvas into square foot pieces, and offering them out for token fees (probably around 50 cents) to students, providing paint and other materials needed for each student to contribute to the mosaic. Once the individual canvases are completed, they will be put back together.

“The finished mosaic will reflect Garfield’s diverse and united student body,” Emily said. S.W.A.G. hopes that the unified piece of artwork will be displayed in the staircase across the hall from Mr. Mandelman’s room, near the alder street entrance, though S.W.A.G first needs approval from the administration. Ms. Hungate-Hawk, S.W.A.G.’s club advisor, acts as their official liaison.

S.W.A.G. has also come up with the idea to recreate the mural that was in the parking lot of the old Garfield on the cement wall near Alder. The original mural consisted of a Spiderman-bulldog, a painting of The Messenger, and a bulldog playing a saxophone, amongst other things. The project was put on standby due to the cold winter weather, but once it warms up, it will be resumed.

“We are hoping to incorporate a lot of the old mural into our new piece which will also consist of new ideas from the Garfield student body,” Emily said.

To fund its student-run projects, S.W.A.G has collected money through its bake sales and an ink cartridge drive which is currently underway. “We have to work for the money to buy the paint and supplies for the projects,” Emily said.

Having the student body brainstorm ideas for murals at Garfield won’t be a hard task. S.W.A.G.’s wall on Facebook is full with people’s ideas for separate projects, such as purple doors, painted bathrooms, and an entire wall free to anyone who’d like to tag it. Currently the only student created piece of artwork on display is the ’09 mural on the third floor, and students want more. Our school seems to be plagued with bland, beige walls, but at the old Garfield, artwork was abundant.

“It improved the spirit of the school,” junior Alec Marten said, “because when a sweet mural is around, you just feel happier.”

Senior Laura Muñoz, like many other Garfield students, received an incomplete schedule at the beginning of the year. When she went to the counseling office to get her required health class, she was told that all of the Family Health classes at Garfield were full, and that the other classes were freshmen-only.

“If I hadn’t taken the initiative,” she says, “I wouldn’t have been able to graduate. Now I have to miss school to go to my Running Start appointments.”

Although many seniors would like to blame staff members for the confusion, much of the blame lies with the school district. Until this year, Garfield was one of the only public schools in Seattle that didn’t offer any freshmen-only health classes. When the district decided that Garfield needed to change this to fit the “standard,” and to fit in a required P.E. class for freshmen, Garfield counselors had to rearrange schedules, often leaving seniors with no choice other than taking health through Running Start, an option that is generally acknowledged to be more difficult than the in-school class.

Sometimes, however, inconsistencies between counselors are also to blame for schedule confusion.

“They told me I could wait and see if any spots in a Family Health class opened up second semester,” says senior Allyson McGaughey. “But if none did, then it would be too late to take it online.” McGaughey would then be unable to graduate.

Meanwhile, senior Zorah Fung was willing to take health online so that she could take Photography, but her counselor wouldn’t switch her schedule, though several sophomores were allowed into the class.

“He was really adamant about me taking health at school,” she says, “even with a Photo spot open.”

The feeling of many seniors who have been denied health is that the school should be more helpful in getting seniors their graduation requirements, rather than giving so many classes over to freshmen, who still have four years to take the class.

Seniors are being forced to put in extra work through Running Start if they want to be assured of their own graduation.

“I don’t see why they can’t put me in one of those classes,” says Muñoz. “I know I’m really intimidating and all, but I think freshmen can handle having a class with me.”

The shooter, whose name remains unreleased because he was tried as a juvenile, fled Garfield only to be arrested at a nearby park.

After she recovered, Thompson went on to found Garfield’s first Students Against Violence Everywhere chapter. As of their first meeting on November 16, Garfield juniors Emerson North and Troy Osaki are reinstating the peace-promoting club after its long absence from Garfield High School.

North and Osaki are putting together a student-led organization to build awareness about youth violence and ways of combatting it across Seattle. Their goal to “deteriorate the current rise of youth violence,” is fairly unaddressed throughout Garfield’s student groups, but not unheard of to previous generations of Bulldogs.

According to both North and Osaki, the SAVE group that existed in the ’90s tried to address violence at the earliest age that it appears in kids’ lives. Members went downtown on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, and passed out balloons with the words “Don’t buy your kids violent toys,” printed on them.

Osaki and North see the new SAVE as starting an assortment of projects, from holding community forums to sponsoring speakers, as well as holding benefit concerts.

“We think that by having this feeling of music, a community can come together against violence,” says Osaki.

Money from any concerts and fundraisers would probably be passed to local groups working to make mentors, college scholarships, tutors, sports and arts activities more available to kids who can’t normally access them.

Though they don’t have plans to spread their ideas to downtown shoppers as old SAVE did, both founders of the SAVE reincarnate agree that violent behavior is connected to the experiences people have before high school.

“Youth violence doesn’t just spring up; it starts with your toys,” says North.

The pair carry this theory to middle school, but think kids of that age can take prevention more into their own hands.

“We’d love to go to middle schools and talk, to have a forum on the cause of violence,” says Osaki. “Middle school is where a lot of violence starts. It’s where the actions get picked up.”

While the original instance of the now-national SAVE was first formed at a North Carolina high school in 1989, the catalyst for the current Garfield incarnation of SAVE came from ex-club-president Pam Eakes, a friend of North’s. Eakes’ suggestion to restart SAVE gave a tangible outlet to the ideas the junior already had about controlling violence among youth in Seattle.

“My real inspiration for starting SAVE was when Quincy got shot last year. I’d known him forever,” says North.

In early fall, as North asked fellow junior Osaki to help shape the club with him, the pair enlisted the efforts of Garfield counselor Samuel Labi as their advisor.

As a first public move, they settled on surveying Garfield students about their experiences with violence, with the goal of making the point that a hefty portion of kids are exposed to it in Seattle. Labi passed out surveys to students, with questions regarding what they’ve seen or witnessed, and what’s happened to them. The first official meeting was soon scheduled for November 16.

At their first meeting, well publicized via Facebook and word-of-mouth, around 22 students came to help decide how SAVE would work to prevent everything from hallway scuffles to violence on the scale of the deaths of Aaron Sullivan and Quincy Coleman. SAVE hopes to have future meetings every other week in a conference room adjacent to the Garfield counseling office, though they may move to a larger, more open space.

Though the methods and membership of SAVE are still being formed, everything they’re against is visible to most at Garfield.

On the day North, Osaki and I had set up to talk, we found each other in the commons halfway through lunch. A few seconds into a conversation, people began to rush over to the front hall as two girls exchanged punches, and the mass of the commons filled in around the pair. The two girls ran into the main office, followed by a running officer Bennie Radford, and faces press to the windows of the office only to be shooed away.