Steve Jobs Obituary

         On October 5^th, 2011, the world lost one of the greatest minds in history. Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple and Pixar, lost his battle with pancreatic cancer, but although he is gone, his legacy lives on. Steve Jobs revolutionized the way we watch movies, use our phones, and listen to music. He has touched all of our lives. Many of us would be lost without our iPhones, iPods, and MacBooks. Not to mention that most of us have seen a Pixar movie. We have Steve Jobs to thank for all of these great inventions.

         Not only has he changed the world through his inventions, but he has also changed many lives by being a genuinely nice person. Many of you may remember “project red,” in which Apple sold red products and gave a percentage of the profits to charity. Through his inventions, philanthropy, and genius, Steve Jobs truly has “put a dent in the universe,” and he will be greatly missed.-By James Maguire

Glee Season Premiere

         The “Glee” season premiere on September 20th was full of news about each character and their last days in New Directions. Rachel Barry, Finn Hudson, Kurt Hummel, Mike Chang, etc. will be graduating from high school and Glee Club this season. Overall, I thought the premiere was okay. I think the songs were not as amazing as they could’ve been. The idea of the “Purple Piano” was clever, but it lacked the interest that most other episodes have. Mr. Shue went overboard with firing Santana from glee and then not allowing Sugar to take part. Then he glitter- bombed Sue. Sue deserved it though. She is still up to her nasty ways, but this time she is forcing parents to believe the arts at school are a waste of money and overall a dumb idea. She wants to end Glee Club, as always. Not only does she do this, but she destroys one of the purple pianos. Another character who has lost it is Quinn. She changed her whole look and quit glee. I think she just doesn’t know what to do know that she lost her daughter. Although at the end of the 2nd episode she is back to normal, she wants to get her daughter back. This is not a good idea on Quinn’s part, but we shall see what happens in episodes to come. – By Maggie Small

Ms. Nichols: the New Art Teacher Who Can Whistle Four Ways

Born in Stowe Vermont, Ms. Nichols, the new art teacher, grew up skiing. Growing up, she attended Stowe High School, Williston-Northampton School in Massachusetts, the University of Vermont and MICA, the Maryland Institute College of Art, for graduate school. At UVM, Ms. Nichols majored in studio art and art history, and one of her favorite experiences was living in Italy during her junior year. She went on to earn a graduate degree in art education at MICA. Before coming to teach at NCCS, she worked in New York fashion industries such as Saks Fifth Avenue and Jimmy Choo, and for the past five years she taught at a school in North Carolina.

Ms. Nichols’ hobbies include skiing, traveling, cooking, reading, people watching, and listening to music, especially live. Two of her favorite activities show the reasons she is interested in art. She loves being outside and in nature, which are two characteristics that are shown in some of her artwork. Ms. Nichols’ favorite type of art is abstract expressionism. Abstract expressionism involves putting ideas, feelings, and emotions on canvas. It is an emotional art where the object has no form or figure. Helen Frankenthaler is an abstract expressionist, and she is Ms. Nichols’ favorite artist. The painting at the top of the article is one of Frankenthaler’s most famous pieces, called Mountains and Sea. Some of the reasons that Ms. Nichols loves art include that it is expressive, relaxing, and fun. She feels that art can help work out emotions, and she has always been a visual learner. The subject of art history also fascinates Ms. Nichols. She finds it interesting to study a piece of artwork, learn the year it was made, the background of the artist, and its historical context. Using this information, she is then able to decipher the piece of art. Ms. Nichols is an interesting person and will definitely be an awesome art teacher. I can’t wait to see what she brings to NCCS!

       -By Charlotte Zonis

       

Interesting Facts about Ms. Nichols:

   -  Can whistle 4 ways

   -  Loves to sing

   - Was delivered at home

   - Her favorite word in Italian: Sottotitoli, which means subtitles

   - She has a “done dance” for when she finishes a big project

   - She recently went to see the beach where the movie The Goonies was filmed