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$50,000 for Texting?!

Fifteen-year-old Kate Moore has a text message for all parents: "Let your kid text during dinner! Let your kid text during school! Your kid could win money and publicity and a phone."

Texting paid off for her. Just eight months after she got her first cell phone, Moore was crowned the nation’s newest texting champion at the LG U.S. National Texting Championship held June 15-16 in New York City. Her fast fingers won her $50,000. Over two days of fierce competition, the high schooler from Des Moines, Iowa outtexted 20 other finalists from around the country. Challenges included texting blindfolded, texting while navigating an obstacle course, and texting three long messages with all the necessary abbreviations, capitalization, and punctuation. Moore beat out 14-year-old Morgan Dynda from Savannah, Georgia, by only a few seconds in a tie-breaking round. 

Like any other “sport,” the competition required lots of practice. For Moore, training includes 400 to 470 texts a day, or 14,000 texts a month. She even texts to study for tests with friends. She says looking back at the messages is a good way to review. She says she makes sure her cell phone doesn’t take time away from other aspects of her life, though. She also meets people in person and goes out with friends on weekends. She performs in school plays and keeps up good grades.

So, the next time your parents are upset about your texting bill, just tell them you’re training—for $50,000.

~By Tiffany Lam, Current Events student reporter

Photo: AP Images

Eye on Iran

Protesters continue to pour into the streets like an angry river in Tehran, Iran. They are the supporters of Mir Hossein Mousavi. Mousavi claims that the June 12 presidential election that he lost to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was “rigged” and corrupt. Mousavi and his followers demanded a new and fair election. Mousavi is generally considered the more moderate candidate, one who would loosen restrictions on the people of Iran. Incumbent Ahmadinejad is considered a “hard-liner” who supports severe restrictions based on Islamic law. Many of Mousavi’s supporters are young people who tend to think that Iran should open up more to the modern world. Ahmadinejad is supported by many of Iran’s Muslim clerics and by the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Khamenei declared that the presidential election was fair and free from widespread fraud and ordered the protesters to go back to their homes.

The protesters didn’t listen. No international reporters were allowed to record what was happening in Iran, yet the whole world was able to see. On Saturday, June 20, images recorded on mobile phones and by hidden video cameras revealed scenes of brutality and violence. They showed riot police firing tear gas canisters to break up opposition rallies, protesters being shot and beaten with clubs, and victims carried off in ambulances. Protesters were able to secretly upload the photos and videos to Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube and send them around the world. A blood-soaked video of a young woman, Neda Agha Soltani, reportedly killed by police, became a symbol of the protest and its desire for more democracy—even at the price of death. Iran’s government reported only a few dozen deaths, but Mousavi’s supporters say the dead likely number in the many hundreds.

Despite stern warnings, hundreds of protesters continue to take to the streets. “Nothing is certain now,” Hassan Baghernejad, a top Mousavi aide, told The Washington Post. How the crisis will end, no one knows. “We must wait and see.”

Photo: Protesters clash with riot police at an anti-government protest in Tehran, Iran on Saturday June 20, 2009. (AP Photo)

A is for Attendance

180. That’s how many days there are in the average American school year. I think everyone would agree that attending school for every single one of those days is tough. People get sick, go on vacation, or ditch. So at the end of the year, when that one kid in your class gets a perfect attendance certificate, you applaud them because you know going to school every day for a whole year is a challenge, to say the least.

Okay, now, it’s time to congratulate someone with perfect attendance every year since kindergarten! While that may sound like playground lore, Stefanie Zaner is a real live senior attending Northwest High School in Darnestown, Washington. She hasn’t been marked absent for a single day of school—not for sickness, appointments, anything. That’s 2,340 days! Stefanie admits that there were days when she almost played hooky because she was so exhausted. “I have these days where I’m like, ‘I do not want to be here,’” she told reporters. “I’m just the kid who shows up on those days.” Stefanie’s perfect attendance paid off: the straight-A student will attend the University of Maryland this fall.

Think that’s impressive? A student from Indiana named Brittani McCalister has never missed a minute of school. She has never been marked tardy, never been checked out early. What was her motivation? Sibling rivalry. She and her brother started a competition to see who could maintain perfect attendance. (She won). The principal at West Vigo High School asked Brittani to stand up at graduation and be recognized in front of her peers. There were times when Brittani, too, almost threw in the towel and called in sick for a day. What did she do on days like that? “I loaded up on Tylenol.” After completing the last of 2,340 days with perfect attendance, Brittani is pursuing her license in cosmetology. But she’s not done with academics yet! She wants to go to college, too, and do hair on the side. She plans to attend the University of Indiana and possibly get a law degree after that. How does she feel about her accomplishments? “I’m very proud of myself,” she told reporters just before her graduation. As you should be, Brittani. And you too, Stefanie. These two girls are a perfect example of all the things we can accomplish if we just never give up. My hat’s off to both of you.

~By Lara von Nyssen, Current Events student reporter

Photos: Stefanie Zaner, apple (Jupiter Images)

Author Sighting

I recently had the rare opportunity to meet Yoko Kawashima Watkins, award-winning author of the autobiographical novels So Far from the Bamboo Grove and its sequel My Brother, My Sister, and I. She was in Connecticut for a few days to promote So Far from the Bamboo Grove. I was able to ask her a couple of questions. Let me first tell you a bit about the author, who has led a hard and fascinating life.

As a child, Watkins lived in Nanam, North Korea because her father, who was a Japanese government official, was stationed there during World War II (1939-1945). In 1945, angry Korean and Russian Communist forces sought vengeance for decades of Japanese oppression and attempted to flush out all of the Japanese people living in Korea. Watkins, her mother, and sister were forced to flee to Japan, leaving her father and brother behind. Watkins was enrolled in school, but a few days later, her mother passed away. Many years later, Watkins became an interpreter at a U.S. Air Force base in Japan, where she met Donald Watkins, an American pilot whom she married in 1953.

Kaitlyn Ali: Who or what influenced you to become an author?

Yoko Kawashima Watkins: I met a badly spoiled American child. She was 15 years old. The girl had everything she wanted, but she still complained. I went home and that was when I wrote about hardship. I soon sent the girl a letter saying that she should appreciate what has been bestowed upon her.

KA: Was it difficult for you and your family to live through World War II?

YKW: Absolutely! That was the main reason why I wrote the books So Far from the Bamboo Grove and My Brother, My Sister, and I. Many people were against the war. Of course, children never start war. The government officials start it. All they thought about was greed. They didn’t even think about the women, children, and grandparents that would be affected by it. 

Yoko Kawashima Watkins is one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. Even as we were driving away she stood and waved to us until we were out of sight, which is a Japanese tradition. She currently lives in Brewster, Massachusetts with her husband and four children.

~By Kaitlyn Ali, Current Events student reporter

Photo: Kaitlyn Ali, Yoko Kawashima Watkins, and Amanda Cooper (left to right)

Time to Eat the Doughnuts

Many great ideas were cooked up during the Great Depression. But one of the sweetest was making June 5 National Doughnut Day. What better thing to honor than a sweet ring of fried dough?

How should you celebrate? Head to your local bakery, of course. Get a free doughnut at participating Krispy Kremes. To get your sweet treat at Dunkin’ Donuts, you’ll need to buy a beverage. Wherever you go, don’t eat as many as Homer Simpson (D’oh! Nuts! Donuts). And please, don’t try to break John Haight’s world record. He downed 29 doughnuts in just over 6 minutes.

The delicious holiday traces its origins back to the battlefields of France during World War I (1914-1918). Female Salvation Army volunteers known as “lassies” served home-style treats to soldiers on the front lines. The brave gals whipped up thousands of doughnuts (or donuts) with dough from leftover flour, using wine bottles as rolling pins. Then, they fried up the fresh treats—often inside of the metal helmets of U.S. soldiers. That’s why U.S. infantrymen were commonly called doughboys.

Doughnut Day was officially established in 1938, by the Chicago Salvation Army to raise funds during the Great Depression, a worldwide economic crisis that lasted from 1929 until the 1940s. What better way to get people to donate money than by offering them free donuts?

OTHER FUN DONUT FACTS:

Doughnuts popped up in the 16th century in Holland. Some sources say the Dutch twisted their dough into knots, hence “dough knots. Others point out that they tended not to cook through in the very middle, so some makers would put nuts in the center, as in “dough-nuts”.

The doughnut hole appeared in the early 19^th century. Hanson Gregory, a sea captain from Maine, is said to have poked holes in his mother’s doughnuts because he didn’t like the soggy center.

Archaeologists have found petrified fried cakes with holes in them in ancient Native American ruins in the southwestern United States. So, doughnuts may have been around longer than we think!

In 1920, an immigrant from Russia named Adolph Levitt invented the first donut-making machine. This motto was printed on each box of doughnuts sold in his Mayflower coffee and donut shops: “As you ramble on through life, brother,/Whatever be your goal,/Keep your eye upon the doughnut,/And not upon the hole.”

Learn how to order a donut around the world! In Italy, it is called fritole. In France, it’s a beignet. In Mexico, say churro. In Germany, ask for a krapfen. In Turkey, call it a lokma. In India, balushai. In the Netherlands, have an oliebollen.

Photo: AP Images

Giving Paws to Troubled Teens

Teens living in a juvenile detention center in upstate New York are getting special visits—from man’s best friend. Fifteen boys, ages 13 to 18, are helping train abused dogs as part of a joint effort between the Sergeant Henry Johnson Youth Leadership Academy and the nonprofit organization Glen Wild Animal Rescue. The dogs, mostly pit bulls, are from shelters operated by Animal Care & Control of New York City. Once the dogs are healthy, they are brought to the Youth Leadership Academy. The goal of the program is to rehabilitate dogs so that they can be adopted.

The teens learn to train the dogs by using positive reinforcement techniques. Each teen is paired with a dog. One of the boys, 15-year-old Orlando, has taught his furry friend Bo to sit, heel, and give high-fives. The dogs begin and end every training session by rolling around in the grass. Orlando rewards Bo with a treat and some love. He says the program has changed the way he views pit bull fighting, a popular sport in his Bronx (New York City) neighborhood. “Now I know it’s a harmful thing, and it breaks my heart,” he told The New York Daily News.

The program doesn’t just help the dogs; it benefits the teens too, according to Youth Leadership Academy psychologist Sue Newman. "While we’re helping the youth address their needs, the youth are helping the dogs in addressing theirs,” she told the Daily News. Many of the kids can relate to the dogs and learn that “if you give love, you get love.”

“The bond that forms between each shelter dog and its handler is very strong and because of the emotional attachment many important lessons are learned,” says Liz Keller, director of Glen Wild Animal Rescue. “[The teens] learn how hard life on the street is for some of the stray animals. They learn that transition is hard for the dogs that once had a home but are now homeless.”

Many of the dogs in the program have been adopted. In addition to helping boost kids’ self-esteem, the program also offers career possibilities. Ruben Reyes, director of the Youth Leadership Academy, says he hopes that some of the teens will be inspired to work with animals when they return home. Keller wants to expand the program so more kids and animals can benefit. 

Photo: Liz Keller (Glen Wild Animal Rescue)

Girl Power

Tamora Pierce loves writing stories about heroes—female heroes. As one of the leading young adult fantasy authors, she paved the way for “girl power” fantasy in the early 1980s with her first novel, Alanna: The First Adventure. Since then, she has written more than two dozen books featuring fierce heroines. Her latest novel, Bloodhound: Beka Cooper Book Two, the follow-up to Terrier, hit the shelves on April 14. Its heroine is a 17-year-old medieval policewoman sniffing out criminals in the Lower City. Pierce spoke to Current Events student reporter Tiffany Lam about Bloodhound and her writing career.

Tiffany Lam: Who is your hero, both literary and nonliterary?

Tamora Pierce: As a writer … Mark Twain. He’s my literary idol. His work is as clear and distinct as if he were writing today. He wrote what he had to say about politics and religion in his time, and it applies just as much as if he wrote it today. I liked that he could combine humor and drama and tell a powerful story to get his story across. … I try to [do that]. He was the one who showed me you could have a book and have it be dramatic and have parts of it that are funny. He always spoke his mind about things, [such as] human folly, yet he still managed to believe in heroes. I try to do that. Outside of writing, [my hero] would have to be Eleanor Roosevelt. She did so much good. She was able to be Franklin Roosevelt’s legs, speak on his behalf, and go on to make her own career.

Tiffany: What made you start writing?

Pierce: My dad. When I was in sixth grade, he caught me telling stories to myself while doing dishes. Instead of telling me I was crazy … he suggested I try to write a book. … The thing that made it stick, [when I realized] that he thought it was important, was that he said I could use his typewriter. Up until then, if I had touched his typewriter, I would have lost some fingers. I knew it was a big deal that he gave me permission to use his typewriter. He suggested I write about travels in a time machine. I thought I could go back in time and write about the Trojan War. I kept tapping away.

Tiffany: What is your inspiration for these books?

Pierce: Writing the kind of thing I wanted to read. My dad shared with me what were then termed “boys’ books”—The Boy’s King Arthur, Tales of Robin Hood and His Merry Men, Tarzan, the James Bond [stories]—adventure books. I kept reading these and I loved them, but they didn’t have any girl characters. It didn’t occur to me that the writers may have left us out on purpose. I started writing adventure books [with female heroes]. I started writing fantasy stories with girl heroes.

Tiffany: How do you choose your characters?

Pierce: I based [the character Alanna] on my sister Kim. If I wanted somebody pig-headed enough to disguise herself as a boy, that was my sister. She made a really good model for Alanna. She’s a paramedic and a nurse, and has saved hundreds of lives. She knows I based Alanna on her, but she doesn’t believe me.

Tiffany: How long did it take you to develop the character?

Pierce: She sort of popped into my head. Any character you develop at a certain point becomes [his or her] own person. I’d say it took me just a few weeks to know who Alanna was and what she would do. I’m lucky in that characters come pretty quickly to me once I know what they look like and what they sound like and how they move.

Tiffany: What is your take on the high expectations for Bloodhound to inspire readers, especially girls?

Pierce: I think they’ll like it. Beka is no longer a puppy; she’s a full-fledged dog. She now has the responsibility of a scent hound. She would like to get a permanent partner. She’s gone through four of them. She’s faced a threat in the kingdom in the shape of counterfeit money.

Tiffany: Is there a message you’re trying to send to young girls?

Pierce: Not really. I mean, my books are about things I believe in, but I don’t try to send messages. … My heroes determine their own lives, rather than someone else telling them how to live. … We need to stand up for others and for people who can’t stand up for themselves. … Beka chose to become a dog in the Lower City because she believes the poor deserve justice too. … When crimes are committed against the poor … [the poor] don’t get looked after very well. You see it all the time in our world. The people who are poor do not get the same attention, because they don’t have the money or influence.

Tiffany: Do you believe there are girls out there who will be changed after reading your book?

Pierce: I do because there are girls who have written to me who said they were changed, that they were able to get through a hard time, or that they decided to take up writing, or fencing, or horseback riding, or went into the military. And I believe them because they took the trouble to write me and tell me.

Tiffany: What do you hope readers will take away from your books?

Pierce: I hope that they take away that they can build their lives to shape their dreams; that it won’t be easy, that it will take a lot of work and determination; that if you want something bad enough, you will achieve it. … There are people who will try to manipulate the world around you with money … and it’s up to the good people.

Photos: Random House

And The Winners Are...

Logan Erdner, student at South Park Middle School in South Park, Pa., took home the grand prize in this year's Eyewitness to History Contest. His interview with his grandfather about the Korean War appeared in issue 25 of Current Events. We received hundreds of interesting interviews—thank you to all who entered. Three students were this year’s runners-up: Ashlee Spencer of South Park, Pa., Benjamin Nace of Savage, Md., and Zachary Ayee of Cliffside Park, N.J. Here are their interviews.

First Steps

Ashlee Spencer of South Park, Pa., interviewed her Sunday school teacher, Elmore Lockley, about what it was like to be one of the first black students integrated into an all-white school in Virginia. 

Ashlee Spencer: What is your name?

Elmore Lockley: Elmore Lockley.

AS: What historical event did you witness?

EL: The integration of the Yorktown Elementary School in my hometown, Yorktown, Virginia.

AS: Can you elaborate?

EL: Before the 1960s, public schools in the South were segregated, which means that black [children] and white children did not attend school together. In fact, the Supreme Court decided Brown v. Board of Education in the 1950s, but it took a number of years for the schools in my state to comply. Therefore, my two older sisters attended segregated schools throughout their entire school years. However, I was the first in my family to attend a desegregated school.

AS: What year did you enter the desegregated classroom?

EL: Sixth grade.

AS: What do you remember about the first five grades when you were in a segregated school?

EL: I remember that the school was small and crowded but the teachers were kind and lived in my community. Therefore, they knew my mother and father and had no trouble correcting children. I remember that the principal seemed overworked and always concerned about the building and the lack of books and other supplies. We used to ride the school bus and pass by the “white school” and wonder why we didn’t have the same playground equipment or the same paved sidewalks.

AS: How did the Yorktown Elementary School become desegregated?

EL: The Yorktown local NAACP [National Association for the Advancement of Colored People] were asked by the white town leaders to carefully select six “colored” girls and three “colored” boys who were well behaved to attend the white elementary school in 1966.

AS: How were you chosen?

EL: My parents told me that members of the NAACP came to our home one evening and asked my parents if their son, “junior,” would be willing to attend Yorktown Elementary in the fall and represent our community. They were proud to help further the cause of equal education for all children and immediately said yes.

AS: How did you feel about being chosen?

EL: I had mixed feelings. I knew I would miss going to the sixth grade with my other black friends. I also was scared of the new experience of attending a white school, but I did not want to disappoint my parents, so I kept most of my negative feelings to myself.

AS: What was the first day of school like in Yorktown Elementary?

EL: All the teachers were friendly, and they easily remembered my first name. Most of the white students simply stared at me and the other black students. During recess and lunch, all of the black students stayed together. Unfortunately, we were not able to sit together during class. My first negative incident occurred when I reached down for my books, which were under my desk, and a white student put his foot on my head. My first reaction was to hit him, but I remembered my pledge to my parents to be good in school. So instead I asked the white student why did he place his foot on my head. He said because he thought it was a Brillo pad. I did not report this to the teacher because I did not want to get in trouble.

AS: How did you become friends with white students?

EL: In one of my classes, I became friends with the student who sat in front of me. He then invited me to sit with him and his white friends during the lunch period. I was the first black to sit with white students during lunch. None of the white students seemed to mind, but the teachers in the lunchroom were visibly alarmed and wanted to know why I was sitting with white students. To my white friends’ credit, they spoke up and said that they invited me to sit with them. It was the first time that I truly felt welcomed at the school.

AS: How were your grades?

EL: All of my subjects were very difficult. As a result, I had to spend many hours doing homework, and at times I felt that I was missing out on having fun. Toward the middle of the school year, I excelled in all subjects.

AS: What made your experience unique to you?

EL: I had the opportunity to answer a lot of questions from the white students about what it means to be black. The white students became very interested in my home life, church life, and community. At times I felt like the black expert on all subjects.

Learn more about desegregation in the United States.

Photo: African American girls head to a newly integrated school in September 1960 (Ed Clark/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images)

Space Race

Benjamin Nace of Savage, Md., interviewed Archie Ashley, who tested key equipment during the space race, an intensely competitive period between the United States and the Soviet Union to make achievements in space. Ashley worked on an important centrifuge—a machine that simulates rocket launches. Here is Benjamin’s interview.

Benjamin Nace: Where were you born?

Archie Ashley: In Edenton, North Carolina.

BN: When and why did you join the Navy?

AA: At that time, it was World War II, and it seemed the thing to do. So I joined the Navy and went to boot camp in San Diego, California. It’s what I wanted to do.

BN: How did you get involved in the space program?

AA: In the Navy, I was in the medical core and went through aviation medical school. As soon as the space program began, we opened the human centrifuge at Johnsville, Pennsylvania. At that time, it was the largest centrifuge in the world. It was built expressly to train the Mercury, Apollo, and Gemini astronauts.

BN: What years were you involved in the space program?

AA: From 1951 to 1963.

BN: What did you do?

AA: I was the same size as [astronaut] Gus Grissom, and I ran all of his programs before he showed up at the centrifuge, getting all the bugs out of the system. When he showed up, all he had to do was ride it, and then tell us how it felt.

BN: How did you feel when you learned about the launch of Sputnik?

AA: Like everyone else in the space program: We were way behind.

BN: How did you feel when Alan Shepard and John Glenn were launched?

AA: Ecstatic! I knew both of them, and they had a thing going about who would be the first [American] in space.

BN: What is your most memorable moment with the space program?

AA: Surviving riding the centrifuge prior to the astronauts. We rode it sometimes for 24 hours a day. Other days we’d make one run, but it was well worthwhile.

BN: Which astronauts did you meet?

AA: All the Mercury Seven, all of the Gemini, and most of the Apollo astronauts.

BN: Of all of the astronauts that you met, which was your favorite and why?

AA: John Glenn, because he was a gentleman.

Learn more about the Johnsville centrifuge.

Photo: An astronaut gets out of a machine that simulates rocket launches (Bettmann Corbis)

My Interview With Omaira Hernandez

Zachary Ayee of Cliffside Park, N.J., interviewed his grandmother about what it was like to live through the tumult of the Cuban Revolution of 1959, when Cuba became a Communist country. Here’s Zachary’s winning interview.

Zachary Ayee: What is your name?

Omaira Hernandez: My name is Omaira Hernandez.

ZA: Where were you born?

OH: I was born in San Nicolás de Bari, provincia de Habana, Cuba.

ZA: How long did you live there?

OH: I lived there for 34 years.

ZA: Which event of the Cuban Revolution did you witness?

OH: I saw the policemen and town officials in San Nicholás change on July 26.

ZA: How did this event change your life?

OH: I was a sixth-grade teacher. Everything I taught changed terribly. All the teachers had to talk about Castro and the Revolution. I was able to resign from teaching because I had a baby. … My husband was taken out of his job because he wanted to go to the United States.

ZA: How did your life in Cuba change after the Revolution?

OH: Castro became the owner of every industry and every business. No one owned anything. On TV, there were only programs about Castro and the Revolution. Before the Revolution, my family employed people to cook, clean, and shop. This stopped. Two of my brothers left Cuba to go to the United States. One sister stayed in Cuba because she loved life there and didn’t have a problem with the government.

ZA: Did you support the Revolution?

OH: No! Why? I don’t like Castro and how he ruled the country.

ZA: Did anybody in your family lose property or possessions after the Revolution?

OH: My father lost two farms and three houses. He only had his own house that he lived in and the government could take at any time. No one owned anything.

ZA: How did the Revolution change the country’s economy?

OH: The value of Cuban money changed. The banks only gave you 80 cents for every one dollar. Food was rationed.

ZA: Why did you decide to leave Cuba and migrate to the United States?

OH: I wanted to live in freedom—free to travel when I wanted to, free to speak about anything, including criticizing the government.

ZA: Was it difficult to leave Cuba?

OH: Yes. We were a family of four, but we could only take one suitcase when we got permission to leave. We couldn’t take any furniture or money. We could not take any silverware, crockery, or paintings. My baby was sick, and I left the prescription at home and wasn’t allowed to go back and get it.

ZA: Would you ever go back to Cuba?

OH: No, because I don’t want to be restricted in traveling about Cuba. I would be afraid to speak freely. The government [of Cuba] does not like people who migrated to the United States, and I might not be able to leave freely. 

Learn more about the Cuban Revolution.

Photo: Fidel Castro waves to a crowd during the Cuban Revolution of 1959 (Rolls Press/Popperfoto/Getty Images)

Laying Down Tracks

Musicians Trace Cyrus and Mason Musso started jamming after they met on the set of the Hannah Montana sitcom, starring their younger siblings Miley Cyrus and Mitchel Musso. The guitarists decided to form a band called Metro Station. One day, an intern at Columbia Records was surfing the Web and discovered the band's MySpace page. Columbia liked the catchy tunes so much, it offered the band a record deal. The band is currently on tour with Fall Out Boy. Lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Mason Musso spoke to CE about Metro Station's road to success.

Current Events: When did you first get interested in music?

Mason Musso: Ever since I can remember. When I first picked up a guitar when I was 13, I couldn’t put it down.

CE: How did Metro Station form? Tell us about your rise to success.

Musso: [Trace and I] met on the set of Hannah Montana. … We started playing music together, and it just kind of clicked. … It’s been a journey. It definitely has happened overnight, but ... we’ve been working for two and a half years now, and it feels good to have that pay off.

CE: What is your music about?

Musso: Stuff that’s going on, relationships, things going well, things going badly. Life, love, loss … losing friends. I feel like we’re still very youthful. ... [Our lyrics are about] things either we’ve gone through or seen our friends go through. [Our single “Kelsey”] is basically just about a relationship and about how you care for someone.

CE: What is the band's key to success?

Musso: Staying together. All bands have problems and go through things. We always try to talk to each other. … We definitely have our fights and everything, but at the end of the day, we love each other.

CE: What goes through your mind when you get up on stage?

Musso: I just go into like stage mode, let the audience inspire me. The crazier they get, the crazier we get. I get more anxious than nervous.

CE: What is your favorite song to perform?

Musso: “Control.” Blake, Trace, and I wrote that song. We like to close our set with that one. After you play the same songs every night, it’s hard to say. … [“Control”] is about how you’re with this girl, but at the same time, you kind of what to get away and change things up, and whatever happens, happens.

Photo: Metro Station (left to right): Anthony Improgo, Mason Musso, Blake Healy, and Trace Cyrus (Courtesy Columbia Records)

Ladies Who Lunch—With Michelle Obama

Current Events student reporter Betsy Potter had the honor of attending the annual First Lady’s Luncheon in Washington, D.C., on April 30. The event is for congressional wives and is closed to the media, but Betsy was able to attend with her grandmother, whose husband was a congressional representative from Nebraska from 1990 to 2000. Didn’t get an invite? Read along as Betsy unravels her day—you’ll feel as if you are right there lunching too! 

The air is filled with a medley of female voices blended together until they sound like one, and the room is a patchwork quilt of many different-colored dresses. I am at the First Lady’s Luncheon, honoring Michelle Obama, in Washington, D.C.

When we arrive, we strut our way down a flight of grandly carpeted stairs and are greeted by security guards who search our purses before waving us through the spacious lobby of the Hilton Washington. We wander—almost suffocated—by the crowd until we find a small place to rest. Then we are ushered to our seats in the ballroom. We find our table, number 160, which is decorated elaborately in green and brown, and take our seats. 

After a while, we hear the United States Marine Band playing “The President’s Own.” When the introductions of the distinguished guests are complete, there is a presentation of the Color Guard. Then many others and I hastily stand to catch a glimpse of the honored guest.

In response to our welcoming applause, Mrs. Obama calmly gives her speech. She speaks of many things but emphasizes the importance of helping others. “One of my greatest passions [is] national and community service,” she states. She then speaks about the unique ways people across the country help others in need. 

Mrs. Obama also tells a bit about her new, busy life. She says her daughters, Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7, are getting good grades, playing soccer, and hosting slumber parties in the White House. Among other things, she speaks about walking the dog, Bo, who joined the family a few weeks ago. “Even though the kids are supposed to do a lot of the work, I’m still up at 5:15 a.m. taking my dog out,” Mrs. Obama says. “So for everyone who has a child asking for a puppy, you have to want the dog. As I do. I love my Bo.

While she speaks, we are served a three-course meal of baby watercress salad, roasted Pacific Coast halibut, and cherry clafouti, a custard-like French dessert. Yum.

After a few more speeches, we are entertained by the vocal talents of Blake Lewis, a former American Idol contestant.

When he finishes, we bid the other women at our table good-bye and quietly take our leave. But it’s hard to quiet my thoughts after spending two hours in the presence of one of the most powerful women in the world. 

~By Betsy Potter, Current Events student reporter

Photos: Three generations of Potter ladies attend the First Lady's Luncheon on April 30, from left to right: Elsie Barrett (my grandmother), me, Rachel Rice (my friend), and Beth Barrett (my mother); First Lady Michelle Obama: AP Images